


The Royal 'We'

by batofgoodintent (crownedcrusader)



Series: language of committment [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Koriand'r-centric, because not nearly enough people write about her, but with fun twists, obligatory 'korys pregnant with mar'i' fic, teen titans mixed universe (listen the animated show could fix dc i have IDEAS-), tim and kory friendship because why not, two robins at the same time au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27922621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownedcrusader/pseuds/batofgoodintent
Summary: Monarchs can refer to themselves as a royal 'we', even if they only mean themselves, singular.Koriand'r is currently plural in more than the royal sense. Dick hasn't picked up on the grammar yet.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Koriand'r & Garfield Logan & Raven, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Donna Troy & Koriand’r, Teen Titans fam, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson, Tim Drake & Koriand'r, batfam - Relationship
Series: language of committment [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053956
Comments: 88
Kudos: 163





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a blend of headcanons and canon fix-its and alternate universe smushing. I take what I want from as many canons as I like, and put them together in a salad bowl. 
> 
> This is an au where there were multiple Robins at the same time. One in Jump City/San Francisco (the Teen Titans headquarters), and one in Gotham with Batman. Dick and Jason had this dynamic, and Tim and Damian also have this dynamic.

Koriand’r is in her garden when she finally gets the call she’s been waiting for.

She’s given Dick three weeks to adjust; to figure himself out. But she knows it has been quite the transition period. He’s had a lot on his plate, even after Bruce’s unlikely return. Once Bruce was back, DIck should have been free of those new responsibilities immediately. And yet, he had stayed in Gotham with Bruce. He had even continued being Batman. 

At least, Kory thinks, _she_ had believed Tim. Even when she hadn't, at least she had helped him with his case. Tim was grieving and lost, but he had still been family. And, he was Dick's brother. Kory kept an eye on him for Dick. No matter Kory's reasons, it had been nice to have him around the Tower. It is _still_ nice, to have him here. Anything to keep the Tower full of her Titans family. After all, it was not just Gotham that had lost many heroes. The Titans had, too. After Conner and Bart's funeral, Kory had been tempted to go back to Tamaran, just to distance herself from the grief. But one look at the teen heroes' empty rooms -- empty, because they had died while she was their team leader -- and she had remembered her responsibilities. She was still team leader, and she still had others to take care of. Others who needed a family and a place to call home.

So she had stayed. And she had convinced the others to stay, too. 

Even Raven and Garfield -- who were, like her, far too old to still be Teen Titans. Together, they stayed on the team alongside Jaime, Cassie, and Tim. _Just for now,_ she had told them. _Just until they could heal. They had lost enough of their team this year. Just give it time._

That had been a year ago. Two months ago, Bart and Conner had returned, against all odds.

And after that miracle, Kory had taken far more interest in Tim’s research. 

Enough of her friends had returned from the dead that his theory hadn’t seemed so ridiculous. And with more of the superhero community fully behind Tim, Bruce had been found within the week.

Kory shakes her head. She wonders how much faster it would have been, if Tim had Dick on his side. Not just as his brother, but as the next best detective. Though sometimes, she thinks Tim might have stolen that title out from under her partner. 

Kory is grateful she’d been able to help. And even more grateful that the world, finally, is as it should be. 

All that remains is this. This call. And for Dick to return to her. 

She presses her phone between her shoulder and ear, careful as she waters her plants. Ficuses. Finicky things, these. She really ought to cycle them into the sunnier half of the greenhouse -- they look less vibrant than usual. 

“Hello?” she asks, when Dick isn't the first to speak. “What a surprise, Dick! You haven’t called in ages.” 

She says it glibly -- too much so. Kory can hear the wince in his voice. “...Is that a hint?” 

"That depends. What do you believe I'm hinting at, hm?"

Dick swallows. "Not reaching out. Were you waiting for me?"

“How could I not?" Kory sets the watering can on the bench, satisfied for now. "Even on break, we were still friends, were we not?” 

“...We’re _always_ friends, Kor.”

And _oh_. _There_ is the warmth in his tone. _There_ is the him that she had missed. It sends heat to her belly just to hear his voice again. It's been far too long, and Kory has missed him like she has missed breathing. 

So even though she is frustrated that he could so easily shelve her, Kory can’t help but smile. Even when he immediately starts up his excuses. “I did miss you," he says. "I just didn’t have time to call.” 

“Aside from the once.” 

Kory remembers that night all too well. Five months ago -- when he’d called at three in the morning, voice so strained it hurt to hear. He'd sounded more lost than when Jason had died. Gotham was too much, he'd told her. And she knew what he meant. The fighting was too much. The company was too much. The League, the Titans, the constant Arkham breakouts. Batman was too much. And privately, Kory knew that even Damian was too much, though it wasn’t his fault.

Dick had called Damian had gotten hurt. The first time since becoming Robin -- and Dick couldn’t handle that stain on his conscience. He’d needed Kory to make sure he wouldn’t go out and get someone killed. To make sure that 'someone' wasn't himself. 

So Kory had come. She stayed for three days, and cared for him in every way she’d known how. 

“...Aside from the once,” Dick agrees. 

Kory pulls out a pair of shears from her overall pockets, then looks to an overgrown tree in severe need of pruning. “Have you been alright since then?”

“As alright as I can be,” he admits. “You helped a lot. But it would have been -- selfish, to do that to you again.” 

“Yes.” She snips away at the tree with no small amount of vindictiveness. “It would have been. But I would have allowed it, even so.” 

"You know..." Dick hesitates. “You shouldn’t let me get away with being so selfish. A better man would have broken up with you all the way. A better man could have let you get on with your life.” 

“I am aware.” Kory snips at another branch, letting the dead leaves fall away. “But I am not as hurt as you might be worrying. We were volatile when we were children -- but we aren’t children anymore. I know you didn’t mean any harm by it. The only reason we took a break was because of your father’s… I suppose I cannot say his untimely passing anymore, can I?” She hesitates, too, just for a moment -- carefully considering both the tree’s needs, and her words. “But, seeing as he has been back for almost a month, I was hoping you would have found time to call by now.” 

“In my defense, it’s not every day that Batman comes back from the dead. It’s just been crazy over here.” 

“Crazy, in Gotham? Yes… _truly_ , I am shocked. How could one possibly adapt to such a strange circumstance in such an ordinarily calm city?” 

This time, she clearly hears him wince. “Aw, geez. Is Garfield teaching you sarcasm again?” 

“Rachel, actually.” She shakes her head, then smiles despite herself. “Let us move on to lighter news. Please, get to why you called. Of the four possibilities, what news should I expect to hear?” 

“Only four?” She can picture the crinkle between his brow, the one he always gets when he is confused. She wonders if he had a permanent line by now. It has been months since she had seen him, after all. And the stress of raising Bruce’s son, on top of being Batman, could not have been kind to him. 

Kory decides to go easy on him. 

“The first two would be the obvious choices for anyone but you,” Kory says -- tone light enough that he’d know she isn’t angry. “Either we’re getting back together, or we’re not. We were only on break because of your responsibilities, and now, you no longer have them -- or, you shouldn’t. Not if Bruce is back. But I’m afraid the other two options are far more ‘you’. Either you’ll tell me that you still need more time to figure out what you want… or you’re calling for purely business reasons, and this has nothing to do with our relationship.” 

Silence on the other end. 

“Well?” Kory prompts, trying not to gloat at his very telling hesitation. “Am I right?”

Then, Dick chuckles. She can almost see him sheepishly looking at the ceiling, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, alright. You caught me. It’s the last one.” 

Kory sighs. “You have two more weeks before I expect an answer for my real question, my love. After that, I won’t be so generous. Now, what is it you need?” 

“I’m having trouble tracking Tim down.” And immediately, his business voice. Kory sighs again and puts the shears in her pocket, wiping her hands on her overalls. “He came back to Gotham to help find Bruce, but he left almost as quickly.” 

“Have you considered that he might not feel the most welcome there?” 

Dick is quiet for another moment. Considering. 

He’s always been good at considering, that one. Kory wonders what he might do if he knew what had happened in the Tower over the last few months. What he’d do if he knew about Tim’s battle with himself. The risks he’d taken in combat. The obsessive, sleepless nights spent poring over the facts of Bruce’s death. The tenseness in his shoulders when he heard that Damian was officially Gotham’s Robin. 

That night, he’d confided in her that the Titans Tower might be the only home he had left. 

“I can’t move Damian out,” Dick finally says. “He lives there, too.” 

“That is not your problem, my love." At Dick's confusion, she says, "There is no ‘too’ about it. Damian does not live at the Manor 'too', because Tim hasn’t lived in the Manor in almost a year.” 

“All his stuff is-”

“It’s _here_ ,” Kory says firmly. “Check his room. You’ll find that he removed most of his clothes ages ago. It may be messy -- but that mess hasn’t changed in a year.”

Dick falls silent. So Kory picks up the slack.

“He’s the Robin of Jump City,” she reminds him gently. “Much like you were, once. Is it so different than you and Jason? He’s even your same age, when you first left.” 

She can hear Dick bristle on the phone. “It’s not the same.”

“Then tell me how it’s different. Do you think Batman was any happier about your absence than you are with Tim’s?” 

Dick goes quiet again. This time, Kory waits him out. She can’t guide him to every answer. Sometimes, he has to sort through the emotions himself. So she waits patiently, and walks through her greenhouse to find any other plants that need attention. 

A full minute passes. Kory waits him out.

“Sorry,” he finally says. “I’m sorry. Really. And I need to tell him that, too. I know I have already, but he'll need more than that." Kory makes a small, satisfied hum. But there is more to it, and she waits for Dick to get to the root of the problem. "...Kory, I... I’m just calling to ask about Tim. Can you pass on a message to him? Tell him to come home for a few days?” 

“Have you tried calling him yourself?” 

“Three times.” 

“And he isn’t picking up, because…?” 

Dick is too smart to play dumb. He must at least have a guess. “Because I didn’t believe him that Bruce was alive. But like I said. I already apologized.” 

“He’s been staying here because we _did_ believe him.” Kory pauses. “Or, perhaps we didn’t. But we helped anyway. He is family to us, and he was hurting. Just as we’ve been hurting over the loss of our team members.” And she let it hang in the air for a moment -- a reminder that for much of Bruce’s apparent death, many of Tim’s closest friends were dead, too. He was surrounded by death from all sides, and the people who loved him most had made him feel unwelcome. So he had stayed in Jump City, with Kory. With Cassie and Jaime and Garfield and Rachel. And eventually, they had become as much of a family to him as Dick was. “I shouldn’t need to spell this out to you, love. You know it’s true.” 

Dick swallowed. “Yeah. I know.” 

“Then why do you need to pass on a message? If he is happier here, then why ask him to leave?” 

Dick falls silent.

Again, Kory waits him out.

Then finally, Dick sighs. "Because I miss my little brother," he says. "I know it's selfish, but I want him to come home. We all miss him. And it’s not fair for you all to hog him -- he’s our family too.” 

Kory smiles. Finally. “I’ll pass on the message. But only if you tell him that.” 

Dick's tone immediately shifts. Relieved -- grateful. She can almost hear the smile in his voice. And that, she thinks, is always worth it. “Thank you. Really. I’ll make it up to you soon, I promise.” 

As if. No, Kory knows her ex-everything too well for that. She is sure he’ll get distracted -- as sure as she is that he still loves her. She is sure that he will be hers again, but she knows he won’t find time for her until he is ‘ready’ -- whatever that phrase means to him. Likely not until they live in the same city again, and he has nothing tying him to the million responsibilities he’s taken on as Batman.

She is well aware that he is half-raising Damian, even now. He can’t just abandon the brother that is now more like a son. 

“I know you will,” she lies. “But remember -- two weeks. I have a life to get back to. If you would like to be a part of it, you'd better hurry.” 

“Two weeks,” Dick says, as though it’s another promise. “I’ll call you back ASAP. But I gotta go now. Gotham needs me.” 

“It always does.” 

With that, Kory ends the call and puts her phone in her pocket, next to her shears. Between the two bulky objects, her overalls are getting tight. She makes a mental note to expand the pockets too, when she expands the rest of the overalls. 

She hates to adjust such a nice pair of overalls, but she can't imagine gardening in anything else. Even just for a few months. 

Of course, Kory has already switched her uniform to something more modest. Bright purple with more cutouts than fabric does little to hide her muscles or golden skin. Normally, she was proud of her form and unashamed to show it. But if she didn’t want the papers to gossip, she'd needed to change. Her new suit is still purple, but it has a loose tank-top over the top two-thirds of her suit, and a heavy hem-line to keep it from flying up in combat. She still had fully bare legs, but for once, she isn’t flaunting her usually toned stomach.

Kory is already showing, if anyone looks close enough. But she has perhaps two weeks before even the least observant start to notice. 

Once that happens, tabloids would pick it up, and then it would likely become national news. A pregnant superheroine was always an interest piece. Especially one as well-known as Kory. 

She certainly hopes Dick Grayson would have his answer by then. Otherwise, he’d have to hear he was a father through the tabloids. 

But, she reminds herself as she presses a hand to the swell of her stomach -- If he did, that would be his own fault.

\--

“Tim,” Kory says, after she gets back to the living quarters of the tower. “Dick called.” 

“I know. Let it keep ringing,” Tim says, still seated in front of the desktop in the entertainment room. Kory is half sure he isn’t using it for entertainment as much as information, but she won’t press. He seems as interested in education as he is detective-work. Always learning something. She hopes her little one will have the same thirst for knowledge. It seems an admirable trait. 

“He called _me_ ,” she says, more pointedly. “He wants you to come home.” 

That, at least, makes Tim look up. His face is a little pale, and still too thin, but even now, in harsh computer-screen lighting, he looks better than he has for most of this year. “Did he say why?” 

“Because he misses his little brother and wants you to come home.”

For an instant, Tim looks like he is in shock -- the good kind. Then, his shoulders tense and he turns back to the screen in front of him. “That doesn’t necessarily mean me,” he says, pretending it’s an absent, meaningless comment. _Oh, Tim_ , she thinks. “Human grammar lesson: There might be two different subject-objects in that sentence.” 

“No, only you,” she said. “He wouldn’t miss Damian if Damian’s still home with him.” 

Still, Tim bites his lip. Hesitates. “You think so?” 

“He misses you.” 

Tim ducks his head, smile not quite hidden by gravity. It makes Kory smile, too, and she walks forward to ruffle his hair. As if he was a son, and not her seventeen year old teammate who is ‘way too old’ for this. But Tim doesn’t coax her hand away for another moment. Kory takes it as an improvement. 

Still, Tim is too smart for his own good. “He told you he misses you too, right?” 

“Tim,” she says warningly. “He called about _you_.” 

“I’m not saying it because I think I was the second option,” he says quickly. “I’m saying it because -- did you tell him?” 

He glances down to her stomach, as if it was really a question what he was referring to. 

“I told him he has two weeks to make up his mind about whether he wants to be with me. If he says yes, I’ll tell him about the baby. Otherwise, he’s going to say yes regardless, and I want him to have that choice.” 

Tim lets out a low whistle. “You think he’s really going to get back to you?” 

"I hope so." She pauses. "But it seems that ignoring one's phone is a bat-skill. So perhaps I ought to prepare for the worst." 

As if on cue, Tim’s phone lights up. He doesn’t answer it quite yet. “...Do you think I should go back?” 

“It won’t hurt,” she says. “Besides -- you spent all that time looking for Bruce. You deserve to spend time with him now that he’s back.” 

With that, Tim nods. He can't help his smile as he finally, finally answers the phone. Kory leaves to give him some privacy, ducking into her usual room in the Tower. It is still decorated with plants and pink and purple -- the way she’d had it since she was a child. But now it has actual artifacts from her home world, instead of the nothing she’d initially brought. 

She still feels blessed to know that the civil war has ended. That her people have peace, and freedom, and free elections. That her sister’s reign of terror has ended. 

She also has a letter from her brother, opened but tucked back in the envelope, sitting on her dresser. 

Like everything else, she has a timetable of two weeks to answer it. 

The journey to Tamaran would be a long one. If her child was to become a legitimate heir to the Tamaranean throne, she would need to be a natural citizen. Which means that Kory would need to travel back to Tamaran to give birth. And for that to happen in time, she would need to leave within the month. Probably sooner. The journey would only be six weeks long, but Kory doesn't want to risk giving birth en route. If she does, her child would not be a citizen of either planet. 

A small part of her doesn’t know if she wants her daughter to become a crowned heir of Tamaran. 

But, if Dick does not want a family -- does not want her -- then she would leave and raise her daughter on Tamaran. It is peaceful enough now. She won't need to worry about her daughter getting involved in apocalypses on Earth, or superhero conflicts, or the many small-scale wars that still rage on this planet. A smarter, less selfish mother would have already packed her bags and flown to Tamaran. 

But… if her lover does want her… 

She would stay, for him.

That is why she needs his decision. And soon. 

If he does not value her enough to call her back within a fortnight, then she would leave for Tamaran that very day. 

It is not a happy thought. Kory catches herself frowning -- but she knows there is nothing she can do to force his decision. Instead, all she can do is make choices based on what she does know. And right now, she only knows she feels tired. 

So she reaches over and grabs hold of the pillow next to her. It is the one Dick used to use, when he stayed the night -- but more importantly, it smells of lavender, and it calms her to hold it close. She hugs it against her chest, stomach pressing against it more than before. She falls asleep within minutes, and her sleep is blessedly dreamless. 

\--

It takes a total of five calls to finally, finally reach Tim. Fortunately for Dick, Kory had made good on her promise to talk to him. Almost immediately, it seemed -- Tim picked up not ten minutes after his conversation with Kory. 

Dick can’t help but smile. He really doesn’t deserve her. 

“I was hoping you’d pick up,” Dick says, forcing a little extra cheer into his voice. “Do you have a minute?” 

“A few.” Tim sounds a little guarded, even now. It breaks Dick’s heart to know that he caused that tone. “I can’t believe you used _Starfire_ to wear me down.”

“I can’t believe I had to,” Dick counters. “Normally, you answer when I call.” 

Dick can almost see the guilt on his little brother’s face. “Well… I’ve been busy.” 

Dick raises a brow. “And here I was thinking you were celebrating a victory against all odds.”

“It wouldn’t have been against all odds if you would have believed me from the start.” 

And ah. That one stings. “I’m sorry,” he says with a wince. And he even means it. “I shouldn’t have said that. And I am sorry I didn’t believe you before. I was just focused on other things.” 

Tim mutters something under his breath that Dick doesn’t catch. Dick doesn’t ask him to repeat it, and Tim doesn’t say it again. Instead, he takes a breath. “So. I can be in Gotham tomorrow, if you can book me a last minute ticket.” 

Dick perks up immediately. “That soon?” 

“Do you… _not_ want me there?”

“No! I mean, yes. Of course I always want you here. I just thought I’d need to fight you on that. Tomorrow works great.” Dick pauses. “Will you be just visiting, or moving?” 

“In what world could I pack up all my stuff in 24 hours?” Tim huffs through his nose. “Plus… I like being Robin. I like patrolling, and making a difference. There can’t be two of us in Gotham.” 

Dick closes his eyes. Of course Tim would mention Damian. “Tim, it’s not like I took Robin away from you. You were in Jump City half the time as it is. Damian just needed someone to trust him. To believe in him.” Shit. Backtrack. Or else Tim might hang up on the spot. After all, Dick hadn't believed _Tim_. Not in the slightest. "I just mean -- he's from the League of Assassins, and Ra's. He needed someone to take a chance on him. To give him a chance to be a good guy.” 

Tim is quiet for a long minute. Dick half worries Tim had hung up -- but he doesn’t hear dial tone, so he stays on the line. 

Then, finally, “Like I said, I’ll be there tomorrow. See you, Dick.” 

This time, Dick does hear dial tone. But at least it was after another yes. Dick counts it as a win. 

He turns and leans against the wall in the kitchen, pocketing his mobile. Bruce would kill him for how badly he’d messed up with his brothers. But then, Bruce was going to have his work cut out for him with them, too. And it's not like Bruce has been calling Tim trying to get him to come home. Dick's still the only one in his family that does the emotional heavy-lifting. It's just that he's got to start doing better.

He'll relearn it, he's sure. It's just going to take some time.

But hey. At least tomorrow he’d get another chance to fix this.


	2. Chapter 2

When Kory wakes up, she immediately throws up into the trash can beside her bed. It’s exactly where it needs to be to catch her first wave of nausea. Strategically, tactically placed, because she’s been doing this for a month already. 

A knock on the door spares her from her next bout of dry heaving. Or, at least, it lets her not wallow in the sensation. 

“X’hal,” she mutters under her breath. Then, she takes a tissue and wipes at her face. “Come in.” 

Donna opens the door immediately, mouth open as if to give an immediate report. Then, she gets a look at Kory, bent over a trash can, and changes direction entirely. She whistles. “Still?” 

“Did you need something?” 

“Kon made breakfast,” she says. “It smells pretty good. He even made that thing you’ve been craving all week, with the eggs and mustard and pickles.” 

The battle against dry-heaving suddenly switches, and Kory presses her face into the trash can again. She doesn’t hear Donna move, but in seconds, she’s by her side and shifting Kory’s massive hair out of the way. That in itself is a miracle -- but then Donna rubs a hand up and down her back, and Kory finally lets her shoulders relax. 

It feels nice. 

Not as nice as it would if Dick were here. But nice all the same. 

Donna offers her another napkin, and Kory accepts it, if only to wipe up the remnants of her dignity. She’s a princess, damn it all. Is this really what she’s been reduced to? “Thank you,” she says instead, when she feels confident enough in her voice. “I’ll be out in a minute.” 

“Take your time. We can always reheat it,” Donna says. Then, she pauses and gets a better look at Kory. “...Maybe take a shower first. You always seem to feel better after that.” 

Kory nods. She starts to move the trash can out of her lap, but Donna is the one who ultimately sets it on the floor. What’s more, Donna offers her a hand up. 

“I’ll still be able to stand on my own for another few months,” Kory says dryly -- but accepts the hand anyways. And it’s true. She still has her full range of motion. It’s just that active combat has gotten harder. And she has a lot less energy than usual. As if her child was sucking away half her energy every day. 

But Donna just looks mischievous. “It’s better we get used to it now,” she teases. “Rather than leave her highness stuck in a chair.” 

“I can  _ fly _ .” 

Donna grins. “ _ Promise me _ that’s how you’ll get up when you’re really big.” 

Kory huffs. “This is the Earth definition of bullying,” she warns her. Donna leads her to the bathroom. “I am being bullied. I’m an ambassador of Tamaran and I will not be reduced to this.”

“I do it with love.” 

Donna gives her a mock-friendly squeeze of a hug. Kory laughs -- knows there’s real love, under the teasing. 

Kory is also glad that they stopped for a moment, because she has felt ever so dizzy when she first stands in the morning. Her team worries enough, so she won’t mention it -- but she’s still grateful Donna is slow and steady with her. 

Donna, saint that she is, doesn’t even use her position to sneak a hand against Kory’s stomach. No one has dared to touch her bump so far -- and Kory hopes no one will. Hugs from friends, hand-holding, the expectation of team members that she will fly them whenever they need or catch them when they fall -- that is par for the course. But she does  _ not  _ like to be touched in intimate gestures without warning. She does not like to be touched just to be felt, for another person’s curiosity or pleasure. 

Her friends have always respected that. And in an instant, Kory feels overwhelmingly grateful for it. She leans her head back against Donna’s -- who she’s sure is getting a face full of massive, fiery hair. But it’s well worth it. 

Kory pats Donna’s arms, where they cross over Kory’s sternum.

“...I’m naming you godmother.” 

“What, really?” 

“You’re the obvious choice, aren’t you?” 

“I don’t know about obvious. I would have thought…” Donna shakes her head, then gives her a soft squeeze before pulling away. For all her sweetness, she has mirth in her eyes when she looks back up at Kory. “I thought I’d have to win you over a lot more than this. Don’t accept any bribes Raven offers you, I won fair and square.”

Kory huffs a laugh. “I’m being serious. Especially because of the danger in our lives. If something were to happen to me, or to Dick, then…” 

And with the mere mention of his name, Donna’s entire demeanor changes. She pulls back, as cautious as she is curious. “Did you finally tell him, then? ...I heard he called you.” 

“Are there no private rooms in this Tower?” 

“Is the entertainment room really considered ‘private’?” 

Donna has her there. 

Kory sighs and politely pushes past her to get into the bathroom. Once she’s there, she pointedly wets her toothbrush and sticks it into her mouth -- to spare her from answering any more questions for now. ...And perhaps to get the taste of morning sickness out of her mouth. The things she’s doing for her child, she thinks. She hopes her baby will appreciate it someday. 

But Donna’s expectant stare tells Kory she’s not off the hook. So when she’s finished, she spits then grudgingly crosses her arms over her stomach. “He didn’t say if he wants to get back together. He was calling about Tim.” 

Donna, to her credit, looks like she wants to kill him. And she just might -- Amazonians were every bit as fierce as Tamaranean warriors. Neither had qualms about killing, as long as it was for the right motivation. Kory couldn’t help but smile at Donna’s ever-present devotion. “How can he not talk to you? How much longer does he expect you to wait?” 

“He has no reason to think it would be a problem,” Kory says. She starts the shower, to let it heat up before she enters. “...But I did tell him he’s got two more weeks to decide.” 

“That’s more generous than he deserves.” 

“More generous than I feel, most days.” 

Donna waits just outside the shower door, to give Kory the privacy she needs to strip and get into the shower. “So,” she says, loud enough to be heard above the water. “What happens in two weeks?” 

“I’m already showing as it is-” 

“Barely,” Donna cuts in. “I’m jealous. I hope when I’m five months along someday, I’ll be as flat as you.” 

Kory rolls her eyes and pumps some shampoo into her hand. “-The point is, I’m already showing, and with Tamaraneans, the next stage comes on very quickly. You know how much we are scrutinized in the media as it is -- I’m sure there are people already speculating. But in two weeks, I am quite sure I’ll look well and truly pregnant.”

“So you’re giving him two weeks before he finds out on his own?” 

“Mm-hmm.” 

“And there’s no other reason?” 

Kory hesitates. “There might be one other. But I haven’t even made up my own mind about that. All I know is that if Dick decides he wants to be with me, then I’ll have my answer for sure.” 

“...Are you considering not having the baby after all?” 

“No. I’m quite sure I want them.” Kory absently rubs some body-wash over herself, hand lingering over her bump. “Even if I am to be a single mother, I will want them. But the question is where I will be when I have my child.” 

Donna is silent for a moment. Kory knows she’s trying to figure out what she means. Then, after a long pause, she finally guesses. “...Tamaran?”

“Mmm-hmm.” 

“And you’re really going to go? Into outer-space, while pregnant? Is it safe?” 

“There is artificial gravity inside all space ships, and medical equipment in case I go into labor early. But, if she is to be Tamaranean, she must be born there. I must decide -- and soon -- what future I want for my daughter, and what options I want her to have.” 

Donna sucks her teeth, then lets out a low whistle. “No pressure.” 

Kory smiles. “Thank you for understanding.” She shuts off the water, then reaches her arm over the shower wall. “Now -- hand me a towel? Breakfast sounds wonderful.”

\--

Breakfast is a small but intimate affair in the Teen Titans headquarters. Kory had been here for a decade of her life, and it was always her favorite time of the day. There was something beautiful about a family that trusted each other with their pillow lines and pre-coffee personalities. 

Some faces had been more constant than others -- but these new faces were as much her family as every team member had been. 

In a small way, she was grateful to be pregnant here, surrounded by those who she has called family since she was a teenager. 

Conner slides her eggs mixed with mustard and relish, and Kory doesn’t bother to hide her delight. 

“You know,” Garfield pipes up as soon as she starts to eat, “If I didn’t know your tastes before you were pregnant, this would be like, the weirdest pregnancy craving I’ve heard of.” 

“Then you haven’t heard of many. Barry said Iris once wanted pickles in pistachio ice cream,” Bart says. He flickers his eyes to Kory. “...Please tell me that doesn’t spark something in you. Pistachio ice cream is bad enough as it is. Don’t make it worse with pickles.” 

“The ice cream is the problem for you?” Donna asks from the kitchen, where she’s starting the coffee maker. 

Kory looks up from the bite she’s taking, levels a stare at Garfield. “Should I be offended at the jabs you make about both pregnant women and my people?” 

Bart pales and immediately starts to backtrack. Kory hides her grin behind a hand as she chews. “I am, so, so sorry. Is that actuallyoffensiveonTamaran?”

“The xenophobia card is a trap,” Vic says from across the table. His face is half hidden by a project he’s inexplicably brought to the breakfast table. “She’s played it every day for the last ten years. Don’t fall for it unless there’s a stranger present.” 

Kory huffs and takes another bite of her mustard and relish eggs. “I would never do such a thing. I am a very serious diplomat of Tamaran, and you will respect my culture.” 

Kon leans against Bart, resting his elbow on the smaller boy’s shoulders, the pair of them leaning over Kory and her breakfast. “It’s not even that weird,” he points out. “It’s the same stuff that goes in devilled eggs.” 

Kory, who had been an instant from asking them to give her space, immediately turns to the side and gives her best pleading stare. “...May I try these devilled eggs? Or are they truly bewitched?” 

“I’ll bring you to Smallville for Thanksgiving,” Kon says. “Ma makes the  _ best  _ devilled eggs.” 

And - oh. By Thanksgiving, Kory will be eight months pregnant, and either here or on Tamaran. She hopes, for Kon’s sake, and for the sake of trying these devilled eggs, that Dick makes her conversation a priority. For now though, she only smiles and takes another bite. Then, “Where are the others?” 

“Jaime caught a bug --  _ hah  _ \-- and is sleeping in,” Garfield says. 

“Raven is meditating,” Vic says. 

“Cassie is spending the weekend with Diana,” Donna calls from the kitchen, where she’s still fixing her coffee. 

Kory nods. “And Tim?” 

Bart and Kon exchange a look. “Tim, uh, hopped on a plane an hour ago. He’s heading to Gotham.” 

“Oh! I didn’t expect he would leave so soon.” Kon looks nervous for a moment, but Kory puts a hand up to ease any of his stress. “It’s a good thing. I promise. And if he has any troubles, I can fly to Gotham myself to rescue him.” 

Kon glances down to her stomach. 

“My eyes are up here,” Kory says firmly. “I  _ can  _ still fly, you know.” 

Bart bites his lip to keep from laughing. “Yes, ma’am.” 

Kon elbows him. “ _ Yes, ma’am, _ ” he parrots, with all the maturity of a four year old. Which, technically, he is.

Donna comes out from the kitchen with two cups of coffee. Kory takes one gratefully, though she knows it’s decaf from the way Donna had oh-so-subtly edged one towards her. Clearly, her team was taking no chances with caffeine. It was sweet, though, so Kory let it slide. 

“Did I hear that correctly?” Donna asks. “Did you just get ‘ _ yes, ma’am _ ’ed?” 

Kory half-glares at her from over her ‘coffee’. “I am their leader. I am allowed to be a ma’am.” 

“As long as no one calls you ‘mom’,” Vic says. Then, stops what he’s working on mid-motion. “Actually, do you remember when Dick-” 

Donna’s eyes light up with manic gleam. “-called Diana mom? In the field? In front of the entire League? Yes. Yes, I do.” 

Vic and Donna have a good cackle at their once leader’s expense. Kory doesn’t remember that day -- must have been on one of her missions to Tamaran -- but she can picture it perfectly in her mind’s eye. Yes, she will be asking Dick about that one herself. 

“Not as embarrassing as half of the Teen Titans referring to Superman as ‘dad’,” Garfield says. Then he glances at Conner. “His literal children aside, I mean.” 

“Uh, count me out of that,” Kon says. “I call him Clark. I can’t believe the rest of you think of him as a fatherly figure.”

Bart looks a little bit pink. Kory smiles into her cup and remembers to ask about that one later.

The team chatters for a while. Kory eats for a bit longer, savoring the contrasting, savory flavors. She’s always appreciated good food, but being pregnant makes her more hungry than she’s used to. Especially when she also wakes up by throwing up what little was in her stomach. So if she savors her breakfast a little more than everyone else, it’s fine. 

It’s not until Donna gently bumps her elbow that she realizes someone’s talking to her. 

“Sorry,” she says, and glances up with a slightly sheepish smile. “What were you saying?” 

Vic is giving her a concerned look. “I can check on Tim and Dick, if you want. The League is having an informal meeting with Batman later, and someone’s supposed to see him in person to pass off intel. I could volunteer for a house-call to help catch him up.” He pauses. “And… you know. Make sure that the secret isn’t out. And remind Dick to stop living up to his name.” 

“Like no one’s ever made  _ that  _ joke before,” Garfield mutters under his breath. 

Someone -- probably Donna -- kicks him under the table. 

Kory smiles. Her chest could burst, knowing her family loves her so much. “No, that’s alright,” she says, shaking her head. “I trust Tim. But thank you.  _ All of you _ . Really. And thank you for keeping this between us for now.” 

“We’ll do it for as long as you need.” 

“Yeah! We’ll deny that you’re pregnant even if you show up to missions at nine months.” 

“As in, pretending there’s another explanation,” Donna says, “Or just denying it for fun?”

“For fun,” Bart confirms.

“Dude, she’s not going to be on missions that far along -- she’s going on maternity leave in a  _ month _ ,” Kon says, whacking Bart on the back of the head. Lightly, of course. “Not that you need to wait a month to start. I mean… you’re sure that you don’t just want to hang up the cape now?” 

“I am perfectly safe in the field. My mobility isn’t limited in the slightest, and I am not putting my child in danger any more than I am myself.” Kory levels him with her leader stare. “You have never spoken up in concern for my safety before… Unless you are suggesting that my safety is of less value than my child’s?”

“No, ma’am,” Kon says -- and Bart grins at him like an eel. “Shut  _ up _ , oh my god.”

The breakfast table descends into chaos again, and Kory feels her heart swell. This, this mess of children and adults-in-name-only, is her family. It’s hard to imagine being anywhere else with her child. 

Still -- she knows she’ll have to make her choice soon. 

\--

Dick wins the fight for who picks Tim up from the airport. Secretly, he’s sure that Alfred had convinced Bruce -- that he’d informed him that Dick needed to mend things with his brother first, before Tim could really feel settled. 

Still -- when Dick had left, Bruce had clearly been unhappy about it. He’d missed his middle-child. Obviously. Which meant that he was going to be stubborn about spending plenty of time with him once Tim actually arrived. ...Hopefully. 

Dick hopes that there aren’t going to be any surprises, like hearing that Tim is only there to solve a case. If that’s Bruce’s real motivation, then Dick would be ready to send Tim back to Jump City, no questions asked. Maybe he’d even join him. 

But then, Damian would have to come with, because Dick doesn’t trust him with just Bruce yet, and Tim would feel weird about having his one safe place (the Tower) ruined by Damian. 

...As if the Tower isn’t already a place where a Robin had hurt Tim. 

Dick sets his jaw, and tries not to think about what Jason might be doing right now.

Fortunately, he has his other middle child brother to distract him. Tim comes out the doors fifteen minutes late, with a cup of coffee that he must have picked up in the airport lounge. Is so classically Tim that Dick has to struggle not to laugh -- and even then, he barely gets it out of his system before Tim spots his car and heads over. 

The word zombie flashes in his mind, and it’s funny until it’s not. Dick will have to get Jason out of his head soon, because the thought of his brother in another city while being Robin keeps making him jumpy. 

Still, Dick smiles when Tim opens the door and shoves his travel-backpack inside. Definitely not moving back in, then. 

“No hug?” Dick asks as Tim sits down. “I’m hurt.” 

Tim does something with his face that is probably a glare -- but far too cute and sleepy-eyed to be effective. But he does, at least, set his coffee down and offer a lackluster open-armed offering. Dick pulls him into as warm of an embrace as he can, despite being cooped up in a tiny porsche. 

“Mfh.” 

Dick pats him on the back. “How have you been? Good?”

“Is this… small talk? At-” Tim glances at the clock. “Three in the afternoon?”

“It’s not as unholy an hour as you’re making it sound.”

“It’s like. Three hours earlier there.” 

“Wow, small talk at noon must be really hard for you, Tim.” Dick musses his hair. “Come on. You’ve got your coffee, what more do you want?” 

“You put me on a plane at seven AM. I had to wake up at like. Five.” 

Dick raises a brow. “And you’re telling me that you, the Boy Wonder who can sleep anywhere, didn’t just sleep an extra five hours on th plane?” 

Tim goes very tellingly silent, and Dick just laughs. “You’re just sleep-hungover,” he says, sing-song in the way he knows Tim hates. “At least promise me you’ve been sleeping enough  _ before  _ today?” 

“Kory wouldn’t let me out of her sight if I wasn’t.” 

“Atta boy. That’s Kory for you. She’s…” Dick trails off. “Kory. Anyhow. Hey -- It’s good to see you. Really. It’s been ages, and I’ve missed you.” 

“I saw you three weeks ago.” 

“For like, a day! And only for the mission. Come on. I’ve missed  _ you _ . Not just your very talented, very misunderstood genius level brain, though I’ll amit, I wonder what it’s like to always be right. Must be exhausting.” 

It’s as much sucking up as Dick has done in a while. He knows he’s not done yet, given the suspicious look on Tim’s face, but it’s certainly a start. 

“How about we get lunch together, since it’s noon your time?” Dick suggests. “You must be hungry.” 

“It’s  _ three  _ your time.” 

“Gotham is a godless state of perpetual anarchy, where time has lost all meaning. We have twenty-four hour everything here, and the sun barely shines as it is. I think I can handle eating a sandwich at three in the afternoon.” 

Tim hesitates. Then his stomach growls and answers for him. “Fine,” he caves. “But I want sushi.” 

“Not enough seafood in Jump City? I thought that sushi bar had opened up like, half a block from the Tower.”

Tim opens his mouth with what is clearly going to be a very cutting remark. But then, just as quickly, he closes it and changes course. “You can never have too much Gotham crab meat.” 

Dick rolls his eyes. “Little brother, I hope you haven’t forgotten that this is Gotham. FDA regulations mean nothing here. When you get food poisoning, don’t come crying to me.” 

\--

Two plates of sushi each, and Dick is in good spirits. Tim has woken up a little more, and looks almost happy to be home by the time they get back in the porsche. The car ride to the manor, though, is a little bit quieter. 

Tim goes back to looking out at the cloudy Gotham skies and drinking his coffee. He nearly has it finished by the time Dick gets sick of the silence. 

“I hope you know,” he finally says, “I wasn’t ready to be a Dad.” 

Tim immediately chokes on his coffee. 

It’s a bad choke, too -- he sprays half of it out of his mouth, getting it all over the dash, the seat, and his shirt. It takes a great deal of coughing and sputtering (and a few more sips of coffee) for his esophagus to recover. Even then, he sounds rough and hoarse when he talks. “Can you… run that by me again?” 

Dick sighs. That’s what he gets for being vulnerable. “Alright, but I want you to take this seriously.” 

“I am. I am  _ deathly  _ serious.” 

Suspicious. But Dick shakes his head and starts again. “I wasn’t ready to be a dad,” he repeats. “When Damian came into our lives, he was Bruce’s kid. Bruce wasn’t even ready, and he’s -- you know.  _ Bruce _ . Prepared for everything, and already has like, three kids.” 

“Yeah,” Tim says slowly -- like he’s puzzling something out. “Damian and Bruce. Yes. Continue.” 

“But then Damian became my responsibility overnight. And I wasn’t ready for it. At all.” He pauses. “But over time, he basically became like  _ my  _ kid. You’ve always been my brother. There’s no question there. But Damian is so little -- and he has no one else looking out for him anymore. I know you didn’t, either. And I’m sorry about that. I wish I would’ve been there for you more.” 

Tim, unexpectedly, cuts him off. “Right. Yes. This is a very heartfelt speech -- but I just need to make sure. Uh, this is  _ just  _ about us, right? Everything you’re saying?” 

Dick squints at him. “Who else would it be about?” 

“No one in particular. Now, continue baring your soul, please. It’s been a long time coming.” 

Dick sighs. He knew letting Tim hang out with all of his old friends was a mistake. The Titans, Teen or otherwise, could be downright vicious with sarcasm. Of course Tim had picked it up. 

“What I was saying,” Dick continues, “Is that I love you. And you’re my brother, and I wanted to be there for you. But you were seventeen -- now you’re almost eighteen. And Damian was  _ ten _ . Someone had to be a dad to this kid, after Bruce … left. I wish you would have stayed. And that we would have worked things out between us. I never want to make you feel like you’re an option and not a priority. So I promise -- whatever you need now, I’ll do it. I’ll make things right between us.” 

Dick thinks he’s said everything he needed to. He’s gone over this speech in his head a thousand times, with a lot more variations. Hopefully he won’t need to use the versions that have him begging on his knees for his little brother to come home for the holidays. 

But when he looks over at Tim, his brother just looks thoughtful. 

“You’ll be a good dad,” he finally says. Then he pats Dick on the shoulder. “We’re fine, by the way -- you and me. Everyone’s alive again. Sure, I’ve added it to the list of traumatizing incidences, and I’m sure it’s gonna haunt me in therapy if I ever go -- but we’re cool now. I’m not pissed at you anymore.” 

With that, Dick breathes a sigh of relief. 

Then, “But uh, hey. You do need to talk to Kory. And like… soon.” 

“What? Why?” Dick almost gets whiplash from the sudden topic change. “...Is something going on? ...Is she hurt?” 

Tim swallows. “Uh, no, nope. Nothing. Not at all. Don’t sweat it. Just, uh, talk to her soon. Two weeks was a  _ maximum  _ \-- this isn’t a deadline you can fudge, trust me on that one.” 

They get to the Manor right as he finishes talking. Dick opens his mouth to ask something, anything else. But then Alfred greets them at the car, and Bruce is there, and even Babs and Damian and Cass and Stephanie. 

This is a reunion. The baffling topic-switch to his ex-ish-girlfriend will have to wait. Family first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> would be ideal if some of u could comment and let me know if u like it! im an attention seeking gremlin who has trouble staying focused so i need all the help i can get


	3. Chapter 3

Jump City has been entirely too quiet the last few days. The last few weeks, too -- but Kory was not as worried then. She is now, because she aches for something, anything, to keep her mind off of her phone. 

She has checked it seventeen times in the last hour. 

Dick still has not called. Not even to let her know that Tim arrived safely, or that he is doing well and getting along with his family. That alone makes her want to call, if just to get a read on her Robin. 

Because Tim is, at this point,  _ her  _ Robin. Dick chose Damian, but she, and the Teen Titans, kept Tim. For a few days, it seemed as though Dick would argue -- but Kory reminded him, none too gently, that it was the same system that Dick and Jason once used. So yes. Tim is  _ her  _ Robin, every bit the  _ Teen Titans _ ’ Robin, and he will remain as such until he chooses a new code-name. And even then, he will still belong to them, the same as Nightwing still belongs to them. 

The Titans are a family. Kory deserves to know how her little brother is doing. 

She debates texting Dick for an update. It would give her an excuse to talk to the both of them. But, little brothers possess phones too, and she is determined for Dick to reach out to her, not the other way around. After several minutes’ deliberation, Kory gives in and calls Tim. 

It rings through to voicemail. 

But Tim, unlike Dick, is a polite young man who returns calls when people reach out to him. Kory gets a call back in less than five minutes. 

“Sorry,” he says as soon as he answers. “I was asleep. I meant to call to check in last night, but we got called away to patrol at six, and didn’t get back til early this morning.” 

Kory tries not to feel worry creep into her bones. “Who did you fight?” 

“Scarecrow and Poison Ivy,” he says. And to Kory’s relief, he sounds proud. “Bruce and I took Poison Ivy, to keep them separated. She seemed like the bigger threat.” 

“And, did you get … what is the word,  _ whammied _ ?”

Tim’s grin is audible, even through the phone. “Not a chance. But Bruce did.” 

Kory shakes her head in bemusement. “I suppose it is quite the adjustment, after being gone a year.” She pauses, then adds, “For you as well. Has everything been alright?” 

“With patrol? Yeah. We got back into our old rhythm pretty quickly.”

“Good.” Kory bites her cheek, then adds, “And what about the rest of it? How have things been with your family?”

This time, Tim hesitates. 

And oh, no. There’s the mood drop she was worried for. 

“It’s… about as good as it was last year,” Tim finally says. “But I’m managing.”

“You can come back if you would like. I could even fly you back myself.” 

To her surprise, Tim laughs. “Kory, no offense, but you might want to take it easy,” he says. “Even before I left, your energy was starting to dip. You might not be Batman, but it’s still a Robin’s job to look out for their leader.” 

It’s exactly what the rest of the team has been suggesting, none too mildly. But at least with Tim, it’s done so analytically that she feels less offended. Even if he did laugh. Kory huffs, exasperated even if she isn’t angry. 

“Things have been quiet in Jump,” Kory insists. “I haven’t had to do much at all. Some exercise might do me good.” 

“It’s a five hour flight via plane.” 

“And I could make it in two.” Kory hears a disbelieving “uh- _ huh _ ” on the other line. She scrunches her face up in a pout. Then, “Fine.  _ Three _ . Maybe three and a half.” 

“And if you flew me back, it would still be six. And it would be exhausting for you.” Tim pauses. “Plus, you’d have to stay the night, and there’s no way we could hide you from Dick.” 

Kory had been working on her retort -- but the instant she hears Dick’s name, she goes silent.

The line goes quiet on both ends for almost a minute.

“Speaking of you-know-who,” Tim says. “How, uh… How is that going? He hasn’t mentioned anything, so am I right in guessing…?” 

“He hasn’t called.” Kory crosses her arms over herself. “I am starting to wonder -- should I have reached out more to him, this last year? Should I call him now?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? It just seems as though he’s…” 

“Not a chance,” Tim insists. “He stopped calling you because he didn’t have time. You calling him would have just frustrated him when he barely had time to breathe.” Tim’s easy answer does make Kory feel better, but only because it feels less like her fault. “But now -- I’m living with him. I know he has time. So he needs to be the one to call you. You’ve put more than enough effort in. Dick’s just…” He trails off. “Well. You know what he’s like.”

Kory does. That’s exactly the problem. 

Dick was a friendlier vigilante than Batman, but he’d still been raised by him. He still had almost all of Bruce’s bad habits. Including letting relationships fall to the wayside if they weren’t immediately adjacent to the Mission. When he’d been young, he had vehemently chosen not to become Batman. He had chosen his friends, time and time again. 

But having to step into the cowl and fill those shoes… That couldn’t have been easy. 

So Kory understands. She does. 

She just needs him to remember that he is now free of the cowl, and free to come back to her.

She crosses her arms over her stomach. Even the last few days, she has noticed a change. It isn’t fair that the father of her child isn’t here to watch it grow. 

“I know,” she finally says. “Thank you, Tim.” 

“I can drop him a hint, if you want?” 

“No. You shouldn’t have to. Besides, if you did, he’d suspect something, and that would defeat the purpose.” Kory shakes her head. “But, I do need to let you know of your new responsibilities if he does not call.” 

“Anything.” 

“Victor and Wally are moving to the League. Donna will be returning permanently to the Titans, and Garfield and Raven will be joining her. Once they move, you will be the leader of the Teen Titans. If you do not accept, Cassie is more than capable. But I wanted to let you know.” 

Tim is quiet. 

“...Tim?” 

“I accept,” he finally says. “But I notice you didn’t include yourself in any of those rosters.” 

“I might be leaving for Tamaran. For a few years, at the very least.” 

“Years?” Tim’s voice becomes sharp. He must hear someone on the other end, because he covers the receiver for a moment, and Kory hears a muffled noise of a door shutting. Tim’s voice is hushed when he replies. “What do you mean,  _ years _ ?” 

“Possibly for the rest of my life.” Kory swallows, but her throat feels tight anyways. She holds it together, though, because that is what a leader does. “My child could be the heir to the throne on Tamaran. If there is no life for me here, she at least deserves to be welcomed on Tamaran.”

“But Earth is your home now -- isn’t it?” 

And Kory can’t find a single thing to say to that. 

Even through a muffled door and the phone, Kory can hear chaos in the Wayne Manor. Shouting, and the thumping of feet. 

“It sounds like there’s something going on there,” she finally says. “Go take care of it. And make sure you’re looking after yourself.” 

“Kory…” 

“I am not yet sure I’m leaving,” she says. “And even if I do leave, I would never leave without saying goodbye to everyone first. Especially you.” 

She knows how sensitive he is to losing people, after all. 

“Alright.” Tim sounds relieved, even if Kory feels like she’s lying, or at least giving him false hope. “Take care of yourself.”

“You as well,” Kory says. And because she needs Tim to really feel better, she adds, “Do not get ‘whammied’ like Bruce.” 

“No promises. Tim laughs as he hangs up. 

And Kory is left wondering, again, what she must do. 

\--

It is 9PM in Gotham. 

It’s dark. 

Scarecrow is still loose, along with three other small-time criminals. 

But nothing can keep the smile off of Dick’s face. 

Because for the first time in a year, Nightwing is out on patrol. The last few days, villains had been seeing doubles, because there were two sets of Batman-and-Robin. An older and younger version. It was enough to keep the media off their tail, because people could believe that Batman and Robin were simply extra active last night. 

But not tonight. Tonight, Dick Grayson is back in blue, and unmistakably Nightwing. Meanwhile, Batman is across town, the largest separation they’ve had since Bruce came back. And there is a Robin for each of them. If anyone is taking pictures tonight, they could prove what people have long suspected -- that there are two Robins. 

It’s worth it though. 

And it feels good, to have Tim by his side. Damian is a good Robin, but it’s time for him to work with Bruce. To see if they could have a good working relationship, too. To prepare him for the times when Dick will be working with the Titans again.

“What are you so happy about?” Tim asks as they sail the rooftops. Tim stays perfectly on course, moving from roof to roof. Organized and orderly as ever. But Dick lets himself enjoy the night. He grapples, sure, but he also flips and handsprings and rolls between platforms. It’s been a year since he could be this free with his movements, and he’s going to enjoy every minute of it.

Dick sticks a quadruple backflip landing, breathless and ecstatic. “Just enjoying the night,” he says. “And feeling grateful my costume still fits.”

Tim snorts. “Was that really a question for you?”

“You don’t even know how much muscle I had to put on to be Batman. I had a protein shake every three hours. It was  _ disgusting _ .” 

“Looks like you’re still pretty aerodynamic.” Tim rolls his eyes, though the domino mask doesn’t allow Dick to see it. “Maybe don’t stretch your costume too far, though. Flips, yes, splits, no.” 

Dick gasps as he lands on the next rooftop. “When did you get so  _ mean _ ?” 

Tim smiles -- but the kind of smile that shows all his teeth. “I’m nicer in Jump City.” 

“ _ Everyone’s _ nicer in Jump City.” 

“Even you?” 

Tim takes off to the next rooftop. Dick flips on after him, landing easily, gracefully, on his feet. It’s an odd thing for his little brother to ask, but Dick tries to take it as ribbing, and gently bumps his side once he lands. “Of course I’m nicer in Jump,” he says. “That’s where Starfire is.” 

“Hm.” 

Tim doesn’t respond -- instead, he goes to the next rooftop, then the next, then the next. Dick chases after him, for once feeling slower in rooftop tag. It’s not until Tim is stopped to investigate a crime that Dick catches up. 

Tim squats down on the edge of the rooftop, looking more bird-of-prey than Robin. Especially with those long binoculars of his. 

“Mugging,” he says. “Want me to go in first?”

“What part of, ‘I’m glad to be back in action’ escaped you?” Dick takes out his own binoculars to inspect the scene. Then in an instant, he’s on the ground, kicking the mugger within an inch of his life. He returns the victim’s purse to her. 

He’s about ready to grapple back up to Tim, when his little brother joins him on the ground instead. 

“Think his nose will ever look the same?” Tim asks. 

“With enough surgery, sure.” Then, Dick puts a hand on his hip and inspects the knocked-out remains of the mugger. “Then again, he was mugging a girl who looked as broke as him, so chances are he couldn’t afford it.” 

Tim whistles. “Tough break.” 

Dick gets out his grapple line to go back to his eyes in the sky. But just before he can, Tim grabs his wrist. 

“What? What’s wrong?” he asks. He scans the skyline for anything amiss, any crimes he needs to intervene in -- but Tim is only looking at him. 

“If you’re nicer in Jump City, maybe you ought to go back,” he says suddenly. “Even just for a day.” 

Dick frowns. Furrows his brow. 

“We  _ just  _ got Batman back,” he says. “And there’s still a lot of work to do here. I can’t rejoin a team right now.” 

“It’s not -- you don’t have to rejoin your teams,” Tim says. And Dick gets the strong sense that he’s holding something back. “But what about your friends? Have you talked to anyone recently?” 

Dick stares at him for a second. Then, he smiles, small and reassuring. “Hey. I’m not Batman anymore. You don’t have to look out for me,” he says. Then, he reaches forward and ruffles Tim’s hair. “I’m fine. I’m great, honestly. You’re here, and Batman’s alive, and the world’s full of possibility again. But it’s sweet of you to care about my social life.” 

With that, he grapples back to the tops of the buildings. 

It takes a few seconds for Tim to follow. But Dick just chalks that up to Tim being bashful about his sentimental side. 

\--

“Kory?” 

Rachel pokes her head into Kory’s room. It’s been a week since Kory called Dick. And her teammates… they are starting to become concerned. 

Dick has a week left to call her. 

Still -- Kory needs to be a good leader until then. No matter her feelings. 

“Rachel? I wasn’t expecting you.” Kory moves to the edge of her bed, patting the spot next to her for Rachel. “What is it?”

Kory is expecting interpersonal drama, or perhaps a small mission. Maybe an investigation of magic that Rachel would like to lead. But instead, Rachel looks… frustrated.

“I’m trying to meditate,” she says, in her usual monotone. “And your emotions are filling up the entire tower.”

Kory’s face pinks. “What are you asking me to…?” 

“To emotionally keep it down.” But instead of leaving after that announcement, Rachel sits down next to her on the bed. “Or, if you can’t do that, you could tell me why you’re feeling so… loud.” 

Rachel has come a long way from bottling her feelings as a teenager. For a moment, Kory wants to feel proud. But the rest of her is still feeling sheepish for how intensely she is missing Dick. She leans forward and crosses her arms over her knees, staring across the room -- where there is a large poster of the original Teen Titans. 

Rachel follows her gaze. Then she reaches over and puts a hand on her back. “Oh.” 

“Is it that obvious?” 

“A little.” 

Kory sighs. Then she rests her chin in her palm, eyes still fixed on the Robin in the picture. Tim has been Robin for the last few years, sure -- but she has never gotten around to replacing this poster. Mainly because she and Robin (Dick) were front and center. 

“It’s a good poster,” Rachel says. “We were really young, though.” 

“Things were simpler then.” 

But Rachel tilts her head to the side. “I don’t know about simpler,” she says. “We had to fight Tara that same year. Brother Blood, too.” 

“It was a hard year, yes. But the conflicts… they were easy. There was always a right choice to make.” Kory finally peels her eyes from the poster, only to look at the letter from her brother. “I am wondering if I’m making the wrong choice.”

Rachel frowns. Then, she uses her dark magic to lift the paper from the dresser. “What is this?” she asks. “It has the official seal of Tamaran. Is something-?” 

Kory pulls it out of Rachel’s grasp as soon as it gets close enough. “I promise I’ll tell you soon. I haven’t made a decision yet.” 

“But you have to make one,” Rachel fills in. “I see.” Kory thinks, for a moment, that Rachel will pick a fight. But instead, she only scoots closer. Then, she rests her head against Kory’s shoulder. 

They’re quiet for a moment -- just appreciating the silence together. Rachel has never been one to force others to make a choice. And Kory appreciates that right now. Especially the calming presence her friend always has around her. 

Then, after nearly five minutes, Rachel breaks the silence.

“...I heard you made Donna the godmother.” 

Kory groans and throws her head back, and her hands up. “ _ How _ ,” she demands, “Does  _ everyone  _ know  _ everything  _ in this Tower?” 

Rachel hides a smile behind her hand.

Then, inexplicably,  _ Garfield’s  _ voice carries from his bedroom next door. “Dude, Robin taught us how to eavesdrop like, ten years ago.”

Kory has a retort on the tip of her tongue. But before she can even say a word, Victor’s voice chimes in from the living room. “It’s not eavesdropping if you announce yourself, Gar.”

Rachel and Kory look at each other. Kory can’t help the giggles that bubble up from inside her, instantly curing her mood. And, because their team never leaves well enough alone, Rachel uses her powers to reach beyond the walls. There’s the sound of a pillow thwacking Garfield over the head -- then, for good measure, a similar punishment for Victor.

The squawking from the other rooms is well worth it. 

Kory grins at the girl who may as well be her sister. She bumps her shoulder against her, and Rachel offers her a rare smile. 

And for the first time, Kory thinks about what else she would be leaving--

And if there might not be a third option. 

\--

Dick muted the Teen Titans -- and the Titans -- group chat three years ago. He only checks it sporadically, when he needs to remember his friends are still out there, or when something tragic has happened. 

He should probably check it more often. Maybe then he wouldn’t always be the last to know important details. 

Like that Wally and Vic were in Gotham for a mission. 

Dick, as Nightwing, is nearly bowled over by the former, while the latter smirks from a distance. 

“Last I heard, the ‘no Metas in Gotham’ rule is back in effect,” Dick says. Wally had practically tackled him, and he can barely breathe around the speedster’s arms. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Maybe if you checked your comms, League emails, or phone, you’d have known we were passing through,” Wally says. He steps back, then puts his hands on his hips. “Also -- hey. Congratulations -- but I cannot  _ believe  _ you didn’t tell me.” 

Dick furrows his brows. “Tell you what?” 

Wally glances over Dick’s shoulder. Dick frowns, then turns around to find Victor finishing an aborted gesture. 

“Uh… Nothing, apparently,” Wally says. There is the unmistakable sound of metal hitting metal as Vic slaps a hand to his forehead. Wally recovers quickly, despite himself. “What I mean is, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me ‘nothing’. You really went MIA on us for a while. We haven’t had word from you in ages.” 

Dick squints. That’s  _ definitely  _ not what his best friend had been trying to tell him. “Congratulations for what?” he tries again. “Come on, Wally. I’m not stupid. Congratulations for what?”

Instead of letting Wally answer, Victor steps forward. “Dude. What else? For being  _ Nightwing  _ again,” he says. Then he slaps Dick on the back, hard enough to almost make him stumble. “It’s about time. You’ve been wearing black like it’s a funeral.” 

“It kind of … was a funeral,” Dick says. He squints again. Something still feels off. Congratulations for what, he wants to ask again. But for now, he’ll let it go. But only because his friends are metas, and Bruce is as stubborn as ever about metas in Gotham. He’s got to get his friends out of here before Bruce finds out. “So. What are you doing here?” 

“League mission. Surprisingly, Gotham’s not the epicenter of the crisis,” Wally says. “For once. There’s supposedly apocalypse bombs in six cities across the US. Gotham’s just one of them.”

Dick’s brows raise to his hairline. “And you didn’t think to call me?” 

“Down, Bats. We had it handled.” Victor pats his shoulder, gentler this time. “We already dismantled the one here, and the one in Metropolis. The rest of the team’s taking care of the other four. Besides… Didn’t you resign from the League yesterday?” 

“Huh.” Dick frowns, puts his hands on his hips. “I guess I did.” 

“Then you’ve got no one but you to blame.” Wally says it with a shockingly chipper smile. Then he winds an elbow through Dick’s. “So, how about treating a couple of League-level heroes to some grub? What’s good in Gotham? I haven’t been here in ages.” 

Dick rolls his eyes. “I’m kind of busy-”

“You’re too busy to treat a friend to dinner?” 

Dick opens his mouth, ready to argue.

Then, just as fast, he caves. 

“Alright, alright. Someone’s pushy,” he says. “There’s a 24-hour place around the corner.” Dick starts to walk, Wally at his side, along the crosswalk. Then, he glances at Vic, who’s still standing where he was two minutes ago. “You coming?” 

Victor frowns. “Uh, no. No, I’m good. Hey -- you coming by Jump City anytime soon? Or are you ...busy?” 

“Busy,” Dick says -- and tries not to feel annoyed about how everyone’s been asking him to go back. “Why?” 

“No reason. But hey. Next time you get a free minute… Consider calling our favorite alien.” 

“Superman?” Wally says. 

Vic glares. 

Dick elbows his best friend. Then, “I’ll call her tonight,” he promises. But as soon as he says it, his heart stops in his chest, worry caking over like ice. Tim had sounded concerned, too. Had something happened after all? “Is she okay?” 

“Ask her yourself,” Vic says. “I’m a cyborg, not an answering machine.” 

Dick snorts at the joke. Vic wouldn’t make a joke if she was seriously injured. Still, he feels unsettled. “I’ll call her,” he promises again. 

“Dude, calling later -- food now.” 

Wally pulls on Dick’s arm. So Dick continues to walk, waving to Vic as he rounds a corner and fades from sight.

“Call her,” Vic shouts before they’re fully out of earshot. “I mean it!” 

\--

Dick means to call Kory. 

He really does. 

_ Really _ . 

But the day after they finally got Scarecrow and Poison Ivy out of Arkham, there was another mass breakout. Which means that now, not only are Scarecrow and Ivy back out there, but Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, and the Joker are out there, too. 

Calling his girlfriend is going to have to wait. 

And wait it does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dick: im a detective  
> literally all of his friends: well, yes, but also no


	4. Chapter 4

Kory wakes up as lightheaded as she has been for the last month. She sits up, waits for a full minute to let her head clear. But when she stands up, she still feels foggy and her vision briefly goes dark.

She sighs and sits down for another two minutes. 

She’s half convinced to let the day go to waste and go back to bed -- but her phone startles her out of her stupor. 

It’s a little sad, how quickly she answers it. 

Her heart drops, then, when she hears the wrong voice on the other end. After all, it's day thirteen. Dick doesn't have much time left.

“Emergency on the Bay. I’m with the League handling the big guys,” Victor says. “Can you get everyone and run comms?”

And ah. It’s to be one of those days, then. Perhaps it is for the best. 

“We’ll be there in ten minutes,” she says -- and sounds the Titans alarm.

\--

“How,” Garfield asks as he punches through one of Control Freak’s holograms, “Is this guy not dead yet? We’ve been fighting him for a decade!” 

“We don’t kill,” Rachel says. 

“We took too many days off,” Cassie says. 

“We died before he could and now he feels awkward,” Kon says. 

“Shut up, you aren’t the only one here who’s died,” Donna says. It should be a sore spot, since Kon was at least partly responsible for her second death, the one from two (three?) years ago. But it’s all water under the bridge now, and most of the team cracks up at the joke. “And anyways,” she continues, “Control Freak was giving us hell before you were even alive.” 

“Dude,” Kon says, sounding almost hurt. “A lot of things were around before I was alive.” Kon punches through an entire building -- Kory can hear it through her comms. She can also hear it from the next block over. It’s almost deafening, and she knows that if she speaks now, no one will hear a word she says. 

So she waits. And, because no one is near her, she leans against the building, catching her breath. She hadn’t even been running or fighting -- she cannot, for the life of her, figure out why she feels so tired. 

But her team is out there and depending on her as mission leader. So once the dust clears and the noise dies down, Kory speaks up. “Only code names in the field, Superboy. Did anyone get hurt in the rubble?”

“No, I kept it localized. Donna got everyone out before I blew it.” He pauses. “Also, Starfire, are you kidding me? You’re really saying that dude isn’t a code name?” 

“ _Dude_ is everyone on the field,” Kory says. “Also -- as entertaining as everyone is today, stay on task and keep these comm lines open for mission updates. Bart, you’ve been quiet. Everything alright?” 

“Crash.” 

Kory hides a smile. “You crashed?”

“You’re intervening in a crash?”

“You caused a crash?” 

Bart groans into his comms. Everyone knows exactly what he means -- but it’s important to remind him of slang boundaries in the field. They partner with the League and other superhero teams often enough that it would throw off their allies if he said it in front of them. “I mean _I’m_ crash. I’m great.” 

“Great,” Kory says, peaceably. “Then you’re on track with your civilian evacuation and detonation placements?”

“On track. Ahead of schedule, even.” 

Kory lets out a breath. “Good,” she says. “The rest of you, stay on task. You aren’t done yet.” 

She opens her mouth to give a mission update to Cassie, who is supposed to deliver a payload in the next two minutes. 

But before she can, an explosion goes off from the building right next to her. 

Kory narrowly avoids being knocked onto her back. She shouts in pain and surprise, and her comm line goes active instantly. Her team is worried for her, she realizes. Kory takes a moment to orient herself, and realizes that she’s flying -- at least fifty feet above the ground. And that’s when she realizes that she feels _exhausted_. 

Flying is taking a lot of energy. More than it should be. It is not a matter of weight; only of the energy this new life is taking from her. And her powers are nothing if not based on energy. 

She has never felt dizzy while flying before. It is ever so slightly disorienting. 

The comms are still calling for her. Kory’s head is spinning, but she manages to get out an answer. “I’m fine,” she says. “Really. There was an explosion, but I am unharmed. Keep to your positions. I’m fine here.” 

“I’m going to your position,” Conner says -- and he almost sounds like a field leader with a tone like that. 

But as much as Kory wants to applaud his responsibility, she can’t let him do that. “Wonder Girl still needs assistance, and as I said before, I am unharmed. Stay on your side of the bay. Starfire out.” 

As soon as she sends that message, however, a massive robot appears across the street from her. Kory glances in both directions to see if there is a teammate nearby that she can rope in. 

There is no one but her. Kory takes a breath, then summons energy she isn’t sure she still has. 

\--

Tim, still in Gotham, is glued to his phone when Dick walks in the room. 

“Whatcha watching?” 

“Teen Titans are battling Control Freak right now,” he says. His eyes don’t leave his phone for even a second. “The news stations just caught wind of Kory fighting a really, really big robot.” 

Dick whistles. “No backup?” 

“Not yet. They’ll be there any minute if she calls.” 

“Then I bet she’ll be okay.” Dick rests a hand on his shoulder. “She’s the toughest fighter I know, except for maybe Diana. She’s going to be okay, Tim. Besides -- you know Control Freak. He’s not that scary.” 

Still. Tim bites his lip. “Can you get me a ticket back to Jump?” he asks. “Tonight?” 

Dick tilts his head to the side, considering. Then he nods. “Anything.”

With that, Tim goes back to watching the fight, a white-knuckled grip on his phone. Dick feels worry grow in the pit of his stomach, but he tries to let it go. He doesn’t want to be controlling, or overbearing. And he knows he can’t be with Kory right now. No matter how much he worries about her. No matter how much he still loves her. 

\--

Going out to the field when she feels lightheaded is not one of Kory’s better ideas. Her starbolts hit where she aims, and if they’re a little weaker than she intends, no one notices. They’re still the force and heat of a star, packed into every punch. 

The robot doesn’t go down easy, but it does -- finally -- go down. 

The rest of the team stays tied up with threats of their own. Raven has to contain a bomb, Superboy has to help her with his TTK, and the rest are protecting civilians. Until they can get to her, Kory is by herself. 

And she wins. It takes more energy than it should, but she does win. 

It takes half an hour, tops. Then Control Freak is led away in handcuffs by the JCPD, the Teen Titans regroup with the Titans, and Starfire dismisses everyone to go home.

Which means Kory finally, finally, gets a chance to sit down. She plops down on a park bench, for once not a bastion of grace and poise. She looks as exhausted as she feels -- she’s sure her hair is sweat-curled at her forehead and the back of her neck. But all the candid paparazzi in the world couldn’t get her up from this bench. Not right now. 

Vic, however, is not paparazzi. 

He stands directly in front of her, simultaneously blocking the sun, and letting its glare shine off of his cybernetics. 

Kory squints her eyes at him. “The League wrapped up, too?”

“A little before you did.” 

“Then that means we won, yes?” Kory sighs and leans back, a small smile on her face. “Good. You will have to tell me of the League’s exploits. It must have been far more intense than ours.”

“You’re the one who looks like you ran a marathon.” Vic chuckles. “We should go over the details all together. Wally and I were going to buy pizza for everyone. You up for that?”

Kory hums. “Food sounds good. I was just about to go back to the Tower for a snack.” 

“Were you really?” he teases. “That’s good, ‘cause I wasn’t sure you could get up from here without help.” 

Kory’s sun-squint turns into a glare. Vic offers her a hand anyway. “You _know_ why you can’t make that joke here,” she scolds as she takes it. 

“Worth it for that look on your face.” Victor pulls her up easily, and all too soon, Kory’s back on her feet. She almost goes back on comms to check that everyone is going home.

But then she feels another head-rush coming on. Worse, this time. She completely loses feeling in her body, along with all sense of gravity. For a few seconds, she is gone. Out.

When she comes to, Victor’s already sat her back down on the bench. He’s holding her wrist to check for a pulse, and there are half a dozen reporters waiting with cameras at the ready. 

“X’hal,” Kory mutters. 

Vic breathes a sigh of relief -- but it fades as soon as he looks closer at her. She must look truly terrible, to make Vic look at her with such horror. But he doesn’t comment on her looks. Instead, he steadies her and opens his own comms. “Plan B exit strategy,” he tells the Teen Titans, voice low. “Beast Boy, Raven, Impulse. Make a scene. Improvise it for the reporters, and put on a good show. Troia, to the patch of trees on the south side of the park. Everyone else -- to the Tower. _Now_.” 

A dust cloud appears on the other side of the park, and the photographers turn to capture it. 

Kory is almost positive she sees Impulse and Beast Boy fighting, with Raven in-between them. 

If she wakes up to headlines about Impulse trying to fight Beast Boy for Raven’s hand, she’s going to ground them all for life. Even if Raven and Beast Boy are in their twenties, now. But still, the idea that they’d go so far for her is… touching. It really is. 

Victor helps her to a more secluded part of the park. 

Kory takes a seat on another bench. By now, she’s already feeling more like herself -- and embarrassed enough that she wishes she had passed out. 

“Don’t say anything,” she warns Victor as she leans her head forward, to rest between her knees. “I didn’t take any risks. I’m not being reckless. It was bad luck, plain and simple.” 

He just sighs and puts a heavy metal hand on her shoulder. “Kory…” 

“I know what I’m doing.” 

“I didn’t say you didn’t,” he says. He hesitates. “But I think it might be time to listen to your body.” 

The irony is too much. Victor seems to realize it too, because he chuckles and squeezes her shoulder. “You don’t have to take it from me. I know I’m a robot _and_ a guy. I’m just worried about you as a friend. I’d be telling you to take some time off even if you weren’t you-know-what.” 

It isn’t fair, that he can put it into such easy words. It isn’t fair that he can disassemble her best excuses in two sentences. 

Kory just puts a hand on top of his. “I will consider it,” she says. 

Then, Donna lands. Kory winces. She leans over to Victor again, then stage whispers, “Is it too late to pretend I am unconscious?” 

“‘Fraid so,” he says. Then, “Troia. Thanks. I need someone who can fly her up to the Tower.” 

And in an instant, Donna is nothing but fury. “What happened?” 

“Nothing,” Kory says, at the same time Victor says, “She passed out after the battle.” 

“It wasn’t a proper passing out. It was only for an instant.” 

Donna does not, in any way, look relieved.

So Kory sighs and accepts defeat -- more or less. “I’m just a little tired. I would like to go home, so that I can rest. May I?” 

Donna squats down to get a closer look. Then, she reaches out and presses a hand to Kory’s forehead. “Cooler than normal,” she says. “Have you sunbathed enough lately?”

“I’ve barely been in combat. I don’t need more sun than usual.” 

Donna gives her a very pointed look. 

Kory, predictably, crosses her arms over her stomach. “Can we have this conversation at the Tower?” 

“Depends. You going to pass out if you stand up again?” 

“Donna,” Vic cuts in. “I think she’s alright. Or, she’s going to be, at least. She let me support her to this side of the park. I think she can handle sitting up long enough to be flown home. I just can’t get her all the way up to the Tower. My power’s running low.” 

Kory pretends to be offended. “I am no heavier than I was six months ago. You never complained of low power before.” 

Vic clears his throat. “I’m, uh, not going to answer that. Can I be excused from this conversation? ‘Cause I think I wanna be excused. 

Donna rolls her eyes. “You’re both so dramatic.” Then, “Thanks, Vic. I’ll see you at HQ.” 

With that, Victor gives a two-fingered salute and heads out. Leaving Donna with Kory. 

Kory stays seated beneath the tree. 

Now that they’re alone, she gets comfortable. She doesn’t want to leave -- at least, not yet. It’s sunny, and despite her excuse before, she does feel a little bit ‘low.’ The sun makes her feel a little better as she sits in its warmth and soaks up its radiation. 

But it’s not just the sun she stays for. Who knows if she’ll be able to see a park like this again before she leaves? Or will this be the last time?

For a terrible moment, she thinks maybe, maybe there will be something that can keep her here. But when she pulls out her phone, there is nothing from the one person she needs. Her face falls immediately.

“Any missed messages?” Donna says, sounding far too hopeful. 

“Would I be in such a state if there were?” 

“I guess not.” Donna sighs. “But his silence isn’t a no, you know. It doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t want you.” 

“But it isn’t a yes, either.” She rubs her wrist against her eyes. She isn’t crying yet -- and likely won’t, out here in the sun. But she still hates this feeling. “If he doesn’t want me, I need him to tell me so that I can stop waiting. It isn’t fair.”

Donna takes a seat next to her. Then, she wraps an arm around her shoulders. “It isn’t fair,” she agrees. “You are _phenomenal_ , Kory. And you have no reason to keep waiting for a guy that can’t get his priorities in order.” 

“I could wait for him forever,” Kory admits. “If it was just me, I would. And I told him as such. I told him that I would wait forever for him. But… My daughter…” 

“You know for sure it’s a girl?” Donna’s entire face lights up. 

And Kory swallows hard. 

She wants that look on Dick’s face. She wants this care, this joy, from the man she’s loved since she was sixteen. 

Kory looks up at the clear blue sky. Her phone buzzes, and as always, it isn’t Dick. She is tempted, suddenly, to throw her phone all the way across the park. But she thinks better of it, an instant before she acts. Instead, she stashes her phone back in her boot. “...It’s a girl,” she reluctantly says. “I was thinking I would name her after a Tamaranean goddess. And I will, if I have her there. But.” She bites her lip. “I- I want to name her after something _Earthly_ , too.”

And the tears finally come. She’s been holding them for two weeks -- maybe since the day she found out she was pregnant. 

But Tamaraneans are stronger for showing their emotions, not for stuffing them. 

She can’t deny what she feels. 

And despite how miserable she feels, once the tears start flowing, she feels more like herself than she has in ages. 

Donna pulls her in, arms wrapped tight around Kory. “Hey,” she says, in that gentle tone that makes Kory feel safe. “It’s going to be okay. You are going to be an _amazing_ mother. With or without him.” 

“I don’t even know if it’s about Dick,” Kory manages. “Not anymore.” 

And that, that is enough to have Donna pull back. She frowns, hand cupping Kory’s cheek. “Then tell me what it is about, and we’ll make it right.” 

“I don’t want to leave Earth.” Kory swallows, trying to push down the lump in her throat. “I want my daughter to have a good life. I can’t know if she _wants_ to be a Tamaranean princess. But I know that if I don’t have her on Tamaran, then she won’t have that option. And I--I would risk that, to stay on Earth. I would risk the options my daughter has, for my own selfishness.”

Donna looks up at her, expression perfectly heartbroken. “Kory… You aren’t selfish. You love him.”

“But it is,” Kory insists. “I am denying her a chance to be a leader of Tamaran if I don’t leave in soon. The only compelling reason I could stay here is if-- if she at least had a father who wanted her. Who would make her a priority and be in her life when she needed him. But I cannot promise her that. And, even if I could, even then, I…” 

Kory gets too choked up to speak. She buries her face in her hands. 

Donna gives her arm a squeeze. Then, she runs a hand through Kory’s hair. “Breathe, Kory. You’re alright.” 

It takes her another full minute to calm. Kory wipes the backs of her hands against her eyes. She probably looks as miserable as she feels -- and in the park, no less. She hopes no one is watching. 

“You said I’m not selfish, but I am. I want to stay. For my own sake. Not just his. I should have left the moment I realized I was pregnant, Dick Grayson be damned. For my daughter’s sake, she should be born on Tamaran. ...But if I leave, it isn’t just Dick I am leaving. It is you. You, and Rachel, and Garfield -- I will be leaving _everyone_.” 

Donna moves a hand to her cheek. Then, she wipes away some of the silvery tears making their way down her face. 

“Then don’t,” she says -- as if it’s simple. “Don’t leave.” 

“You heard my options--” 

“And have you considered how much we would miss you?” Donna moves to hold her hand. “We would miss you terribly. We would miss your child, whoever she grows up to be. We would miss your kindness, and your leadership, and your -- your clearheadedness, and your righteous anger, and how you can adapt to Earth so beautifully while never giving up what makes you yourself.” 

“Donna-”

“We would be there for you. A dozen aunts and uncles for your daughter. She would grow up adored, and loved, and we’ll watch over her and help you as she grows up. And if Dick misses that, it’s his own fault. But the rest of us want you. The rest of us want to be with you through all of this. You’re family, Kory. And family never, ever has to run away.”

Kory stares back at her, silver tears still pooled in bright green eyes.

“Did you mean that?”

“Every word,” Donna says. “So don’t leave. Please.” 

And with that, Kory throws her arms around her. She buries her face into Donna’s neck, and feels the reassuring warmth of someone holding her. 

Kory has only just started to calm down when her phone rings. 

Donna absently picks it up. Then she freezes. 

Without letting go of Kory, she answers and holds the phone to her ear. 

Kory can’t hear the voice on the other end. But she does feel Donna go tense. And she’s almost certain that can only mean one thing. 

“It’s Donna,” Donna suddenly says. “And you’d better get your ass down to Jump City on the next flight over.” 

Kory finally pulls away, her face a mess and her voice hardly better. “Is it-?”

“I swear to god, Dick,” Donna snaps, “If you aren’t on a plane to Jump City tonight, I’m going to throttle you. Get Superman to fly you if you have to. When I say it’s important, I mean it’s important.” 

She pauses. 

“No. But I think it’s sad how you’d only fly over if she was critically injured. - Yeah, I _am_ putting words in your mouth, because you haven’t said nearly enough to disprove it.” 

“Donna, I only asked him to _call_ me, not visit,” Kory says firmly. “Just hand me the phone, please.” 

Donna gives her a long look. She must still be leaning to something Dick is saying, because it takes her a moment for her to finally agree. She sighs through her nose. “I’m handing you over to her, but when you finally understand the context, I hope you understand how colossally you live up to your name.” 

With that, Donna gives Kory the phone. 

“Dick?”

\--

Dick has a good idea that something is wrong even before Donna answered. After he’d seen Tim tuning into the fight, he’d tuned in, too. He’d seen Kory take down the robot, and seen the crowd cheer as the city was saved for the thousandth time. 

If Dick had been a normal citizen, he would have turned it off then. 

But he isn’t. So he doesn’t. Instead, as he watches, he’s fixated on the way Kory moves. He even rewinds the fight a little, to watch specific patterns of movement. To see the way she flies. The way her center of gravity is shifted; the way she fights more defensively than he’s ever seen from her.

That alone is alarming. But Kory also seems exhausted. Dick has never seen her so tired, except when she’s battling a life-threatening villain, or hasn’t seen the sun in a week. 

But she wins, and everything seems fine -- except, Dick doesn’t believe it for a moment. He keeps watching, keeps an eye out for the other shoe to drop. 

And it does. 

Kory passes out as she rises from a park bench. The cameras barely had her in the back of another shot -- but the instant she drops, every eye is on her. 

Dick leaps to his feet, ready to call Clark. Ready to call the bat jet. Ready to call anyone -- to call… 

He swallows. 

_Could_ he call? 

Would it be right to? Does he have a right to call her, when he knows he’s pushed her to the side? When he knows what he’s risking if he does? 

In the end, he gives in. It takes him five minutes to call her directly, but he does. 

That has to count for something, doesn’t it? 

The instant he answers, Donna chews him out. 

Dick deserves it. He knows that. But he also just needs to know if Kory is okay. His hand tightens around the tabloids on his phone, one click away from digging up information for himself. But he wants to hear her voice. To know that she is really alright, in her own words. 

And finally. Finally. _Finally_ , Donna relents. 

“Dick?” Kory asks. And as always, it’s in that honey-sweet voice of hers. But she sounds hoarse. Or worse, like she’s been crying. Dick’s brows raise to his hairline, concern coloring every inch of him. “...Are you there?” 

“I’m here,” he says immediately. “What happened? I saw you on the news. Did you get back to the Tower safely?”

“I’m still at the park,” Kory says. “With Donna.” 

“Is it really safe to stick around after the fight?” he asks. “If you’re hurt, Donna should fly you home. Even in the fight, you looked-”

“I’m not hurt.” Kory’s voice is final. “And she’s going to in a minute. We were just talking.” 

Dick crumples into himself with relief. He feels the ache in his chest suddenly loosen -- breathing again for the first time since he saw the news. “Good,” he says, as he sits back in his chair. “ _Good_. I’m glad you’re okay.” 

Kory doesn’t say anything for a moment. But when she does, her voice goes soft and uncertain. “If I am okay, are you… going to hang up?” 

And that is what really sets off the alarm bells. “No, Kory. Not… It’s not like that,” he says. As though he’s never broken a promise before. He swallows, guilt eating him from the inside out. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for not calling. I’m an ass. I really am.” 

“I’ve known that since you were eighteen,” she says -- almost, almost laughing. “I am asking if you’re an ass who loves me or not.” 

Dick swallows. “You know I do.” 

“Then if you do, _tell_ me. Because I cannot wait forever for you.” 

Dick remembers a time, not that long ago, when she said just the opposite. The night he’d broken down, almost six months ago. She had told him she _would_ wait forever. That she would love him til the day she died. 

And it’s that context that makes his blood freeze in his veins.

“I’m sorry for letting you wait this long,” he finally says. “Kory… Are you really okay?” 

He wishes he could be there, to read her face. To understand what it is he’s missing in this equation. To understand what’s changed. Kory has been so constant over the years. Bullheaded and temperamental as she always has been, yes -- but steady. She loved fiercely and for forever. For her to say she would love him til the day she died, that she would wait for him… And then to change her mind? 

Something is wrong. 

He no longer believes the others promises that she isn’t hurt. Not a word of it. Something is wrong, and he’s got to fix it. 

“I’m coming to Jump City,” he says suddenly, to fill the silence. Because Kory still hasn’t answered. Because this is the tone of someone on the ledge, and he cannot make her wait. He cannot risk someone else not being there for her. “I’m coming. I’m coming right now. Stay where you are.” 

“Dick,” she cuts in. “You haven’t even said what you wanted.”

“How is this still a question?” He speaks as he’s grabbing his jacket and wallet -- the only things he’ll be taking. No distractions. Nothing else. If he had to, he’d call Superman and get a ride that way. He wouldn’t even leave a note if it’d slow him down. “Kory. I love you. We only took a break because I thought it would be fine. But it wasn’t fine. I didn’t realize I wasn’t the only one hurting. If I’d realized I was causing you this much pain, I never, ever would have suggested it.” 

“And what… what would you have suggested instead?” 

Dick runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, Kor. I… I can’t stand the thought of losing you. The whole reason I wanted distance was because I didn’t want to break up with you. I love you. I’m in love with you. I never want us to be apart.”

“Then if you wanted me, why not just _stay_ with me?”

Dick takes a breath. Realizes that he needs to fix this, or else he really will lose her. 

“I had to become Batman,” he finally says. “That’s what.” 

“I know that. But it’s a costume, Dick. A title. Extra responsibilities, yes -- but it is still just a title.”

“Not to me.” Dick shakes his head. “And not to Gotham, either. It’s -- it’s always been more than just a title. That’s why I never wanted to be Batman. He’s got so much anger inside of him. And it's like anyone who puts on the mask brings it on themselves, too. You have to be, in order to deal with that much violence and sickness in Gotham. Because if you aren't angry, you'll stop." He swallows. "It takes focus. It takes a lot of work not to let that anger swallow you up -- to keep directing it at the right targets.” He pauses. “...You know what I was like when we were young. It was one thing then, because I was sixteen and -- and we were both angry and volatile. You'd just escaped the Citadel, and I just left Gotham. We were both angry, and we made it work. But we’re older now, and I can’t do that to you. I don’t want you to be around that much anger. I was scared of what it might do to me -- and what it might do to you.” 

Kory, Dick realizes, has gone silent. He sucks in a breath, terrified she’s already hung up.

“Kory?”

“I’m here." She is quiet for another moment. Then, "You should have told me. And you aren’t done telling me yet. I want more of an answer than that, Dick. Because if it was just that, then you should not have taken in a child.” 

“Why do you think I gave him Robin?” Dick runs a hand through his hair. “He was angry, too. Just like me when I was that age. I thought -- maybe, if I did what Bruce had done, that it might work. But… the longer I spent with him…” He trails off. “It’s not the same. I can’t -- I can’t be Bruce. Or maybe I won’t. I don’t want to be for Damian what Bruce was to me.”

Dick has told Kory about his childhood. But she doesn’t say a word, and Dick knows she expects him to rehash it. To put it in context. Or maybe, he thinks, to force him to admit it aloud. 

He loves her, but sometimes he hates how well she knows his heart. Because it’s so much easier to bury his feelings than let them air. 

“I love Bruce. I do,” he says. “But when he was growing up, he would get so angry sometimes. Not violent to me -- never. But to everyone we fought. And even if he never hurt me, he was always so cold, and distant. It’s like … nothing that anyone else was feeling mattered. I hated it when I was a kid. But I was scared that when I had to become Batman that I was going to take on those parts, too. The worst parts of him. If I ever made you feel the way he made me feel, growing up… I would never have forgiven myself. As long as I was Batman, I couldn’t be with you. As long as I had his responsibilities, I was never, ever going to risk hurting you like that.” 

Kory is quiet for a moment. 

Then: “There are several problems with that,” she finally says. “The first is that… you thought Bruce was dead.”

Dick swallows. “I did.”

“And you were going to be Batman as long as Bruce wasn’t there.” 

Dick falls silent. 

“...Were you ever going to come back to me?” 

“I wanted to,” he says. Then, more confidently. “I would have. Once I was sure that -- that I could be myself again. That I could balance it all.” He swallows. “What were the other problems?” 

“Second…” Kory takes a deep breath. She murmurs something in Tamaranean, and for an instant, he thinks he hears Donna’s voice, comforting her. Then, “The problem, Dick, is that you _did_ push me away. You may have done it to spare me from the worst you feared, but you did still push me away.” 

It hurts to hear, but he knows she’s right. 

“Third,” Kory says, “You never explained about Damian. If you were so afraid of becoming Bruce and making Damian feel as alone as you felt -- then why did you keep him?” 

“The only alternative would be to send him back to his mom. And even Bruce at his angriest -- even the Batcave would have been a better environment than the League of Assassins.” Dick shakes his head. “I was all he had. And whatever I could do was just -- it was just going to have to be good enough. I would have to be good enough.” 

Kory hums. That, at least, seems to be a point she is willing to concede. 

“But lastly,” Kory says. “Bruce is alive now. He has been for weeks. What is your rationale for avoiding me now?”

And this is the part that hurts.

“I didn’t think about it,” he finally admits. “I was busy with Gotham. And you know -- you know -- how I get. When I called about Tim, everything in your tone said you were okay. That you were fine with things as they were. I was going to call today to ask if I could have more time.” 

Kory goes silent again. 

Dick panics when she never speaks up. “And,” he says, “I was scared. I’ll admit it. The way you phrased it, like an all or nothing -- I was scared it was going to be like when we were, what, eighteen?” 

“Nineteen,” Kory says -- because she knows exactly what he’s talking about. 

“When we got married. After Mirage impersonated you. When I panicked and proposed just to -- to try to make things work. We broke up immediately after the wedding because we realized we were rushing into things. And this… this ultimatum of two weeks -- I didn’t know where that was coming from. I still don’t. You always said you were fine waiting with me forever. And don’t get me wrong, I know it’s been selfish to take you up on that, to just leave you waiting. But I don’t know why you’re asking now of all times.” 

He hears Kory take a breath. Slow and steady. As if she’s measuring her patience. “I understand,” she finally says. “It does seem like that. But we aren’t children anymore.” 

Dick swallows audibly. 

“I need to know what it is you want,” Kory says firmly. “I need to know that you will be there with me, every step of the way. And I need to know if you are feeling like yourself. Because if you are truly worried about your anger controlling you -- that would be a reason to give you more time. I don’t want to be around that any more than you want to put me through it.” 

It’s a blessing. 

It could be an out, if Dick wanted to take it. A polite way to end things. To keep each other on pause. 

But Kory is right. She’s right -- she deserves an answer. It’s beyond selfish for him to keep her waiting. And whatever is causing this sudden demand for answers, Kory is still entitled to them. 

“I’m Nightwing again,” he says -- testing the waters. 

“Nightwing is a costume. Do you feel like Dick Grayson, the man I am in love with, or are you going to be so cold and distant that I won’t recognize you?”

“I’m starting to feel like myself.” He pauses. “It’s not all at once. But this last week, with Tim helping out in Gotham -- it helps. Wally stopped by, and I realized it’s been a long time since I saw my friends. I think… that might be what I need. But I don’t know if I can.” 

“You aren’t Batman anymore,” Kory snaps. 

It’s such a sharp tone that he almost doesn’t recognize it from her. He’s only ever heard her that short in the field. 

“I’m not,” he says. “But Damian is here. And Bruce is -- I can’t make excuses for him forever. I was the one who had to call and ask Tim to come home. I’m the one who Damian’s school knows, the one who remembers to tuck him in and to check for vegetarian options at every restaurant we go to. I don’t have to be Batman or run the company -- but he’s my kid, Kory. I want to be with you. I love you. But if I leave, Damian will have no one.” He pauses for breath, realizing how much hurt has collected in his chest. He’s never been shy about Bruce’s shortcomings before. But it’s more painful, somehow, when he thinks about Damian. “I’m not perfect, but I’m what he has.”

As painful as it is to admit, Dick feels lighter once it’s off his shoulders. 

“You would do anything for your child,” Kory finally says. “I’m glad.” 

It gives Dick such whiplash that his shoulders sag. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t been there with you. I just don’t know what I’m going to do.” 

Kory takes a slow breath on the other line. 

“You would do anything for your child,” she says again. 

“I would,” Dick confirms. 

Then, he hears her swallow. Her voice goes from soft to shaky. “And what if,” she finally says, “What if you had another child? What would you do for them?” 

For an instant, Dick cannot fathom what she means. 

Then, it clicks. 

Dick drops his phone. 

A ringing noise fills his ear, and his brain is replaced with cotton. He cannot form a single coherent thought. Not if his life depended on it. 

It takes a couple of seconds for him to come back to himself. 

Then the panic sets in. His heart races. 

“How- How long?” he asks. “How far along are you? How long have you known?” 

“Six months.” Kory pauses. “And I’ve known since I was in my third.” 

Dick wants to be angry. He wants to shout that she had three months to tell him -- but instead, she gave him an ultimatum only two weeks ago. 

But he just told her that he didn’t want to be angry. To bring Batman back home to her. So he takes a breath and runs a hand through his hair. It will be grey before long if he gets any more surprises.

“Why-” he finally asks, “Why did you wait?”

“You were stressed. And I saw how you were, when we…” She pauses. “I didn’t want my child to be around that, either. I wanted you. But not the you that was in Gotham.”

Dick closes his eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” he says. “Why did you decide to tell me at all, if that’s what you thought?” 

And that, it seems, is the wrong thing to ask. 

“Kory?” he asks -- but there is no one on the other end for a moment. 

Then, abruptly, Donna’s voice fills the phone. “You’re going to fix this.” 

“Donna, put Kory back on,” Dick snaps. “I swear to god-”

“Come see your girlfriend,” Donna says firmly. “She’s waiting for you. And I recommend you hurry, because up til ten minutes ago, she was talking about running off to Tamaran and raising her kid all by her lonesome.” 

Forget about skipping a beat.

Dick’s heart downright _stops_. 

“What do you mean?” he asks. His mouth goes dry from horror. Would Kory have really left the planet without even telling him she was having his child? “Donna, tell me you’re kidding.” 

“Would I be yelling at you if I was?” 

Dick swallows. There isn’t a single thing to say to that. 

“Come see your girlfriend,” Donna repeats. “And if you want my advice, you’ll call Superman. Maybe you’ll get here before she starts packing.” 

Then, she hangs up. 

Dick drops his phone for the second time in five minutes. When it falls, he doesn’t even reach for it. 

His heart starts to beat again, finally. It moves into double time, a half-beat too slow to be a true panic attack. But only just. 

Kory is having a child, he realizes. His child. They’re having a child together. 

He calls Superman on his cell. He can’t risk Clark not hearing him if he shouts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Clark is quiet when he finally gets there. Dick has always come to him with the things he can’t take to Bruce. But this is different. This is something he thinks Clark might genuinely be disappointed in him for. 

Not that Clark can talk about being an absentee parent. 

But then, Clark puts a hand on Dick’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “Congratulations,” he says -- and Dick suddenly remembers Wally and Vic, and wonders just how many people in the hero community knew before he did. 

He pulls away from Clark, for once not wanting touch. “Thanks.” 

“Is it a girl or a boy?”

Dick shoves his hands into his jacket pockets. “I don’t know yet. She didn’t tell me.” 

Clark nods his head -- like it makes sense. Like any part of this makes sense. “I see. Well. I have to say, I do understand why she didn’t say anything. But I’m glad she-” 

“Did everyone know but me?” 

Clark winces. “I don’t know. I don’t think she advertised it, exactly. But if it _was_ a secret, it isn’t anymore.” 

Dick furrows his brows, confused -- then Clark pulls up a news site. 

There’s a story from this afternoon, published not twenty minutes ago. There’s a shot of Kory on the park bench, and there’s no mistaking the curve to her stomach. Or, even more tellingly, the way others reacted when she went down. 

Dick closes his eyes. Counts to twenty in his head.

After his conversation with her, he almost forgot that she’d been hurt. Or, maybe not hurt, but pushed past her limits. He crosses his arms over his chest, feeling lost. Almost as lost as he’d been the night Kory came over. 

He’d been so stupid that night. They should have used protection. They shouldn’t have gone that far at all. But he’d never been good at denying himself when it came to her. And Kory was always too giving. Too focused on his needs. 

He rubs at his forehead. Then, he tries to let the frustration go. 

It’s his own fault he didn’t know. He knows that. But he doesn’t have to be happy about it, either. 

His latest mistake echoes in his brain. _‘Why did you tell me at all?’_

It was the worst way to ask Kory why she’d waited til now. There’s a lot that he would go back and change about the last two weeks -- but that’s a damn good place to start. 

“Dick?” Clark asks. “You going to be okay?” 

“Yes, Richard. Are you alright?” There’s another voice that filters in from the hall, and Dick half jumps out of his skin at the interruption. Damian. 

He swallows down his panic. He has to, for his kid. “Yeah, Damian," he says. "I’m fine.” 

“Then why are you not preparing for our mission tonight? The interloper is _ruining_ the files.” 

“Tim isn't ruining them,” Dick corrects. “He’s just working on them. He’s got a different system than me, and he’s looking at some cases with fresh eyes.” 

Damian crosses his arms. “Tt. We don’t need new eyes. We need new evidence.” 

Dick rubs at his forehead. “That’s what Tim might find, if he looks over it. He’s good at what he does, Damian. Trust him.” 

The look on his face suggests Damian is feeling anything but trust for the ‘interloper’. Dick wonders what less than generous nicknames he’ll assign to Kory’s child. To his child. His stomach flips again. How will Damian feel about having a little sister?

“He slowed you down significantly last night, and he was hardly better with my father,” Damian notes. “Is he going on patrol with us again?” 

“Yes,” Dick says, a little shortly. More than he means to. Damian looks hurt for a fraction of a second, and Dick knows he messed up. “Yes," he tries again, calmer this time. "You’ll be patrolling with Bruce again tonight.” 

“Then you’re choosing the interloper as your Robin again?” 

“He’s not an interloper,” he says. Intentionally gently, so he won’t get worked up again. “He’s your brother. And I need you two to get along. It’s really important that we make this work. He’s allowed to be in Gotham as much as he needs to be. And part of that means-”

Clark clears his throat, cutting him off. “Dick,” he says, a little less gentle than he thinks he sounds. “Is this really the time?” 

Dick swallows. “Right. Yeah. Sorry, Damian. You’re patrolling with Bruce again tonight, because I won’t be here.” 

Damian stares at him. “But-” 

“Dick. There’s a wildfire raging in China right now, and they need me. Are you going to Jump City, or not?” 

Dick nods. Then, he briefly leans over to press a kiss to Damian’s forehead, despite the boy’s grumpy objections. “Be good for Bruce and Alfred. I’ll explain later.” Then he steps into Clark’s waiting arms, and is greeted by a rush of wind. He'll be in Jump City in a matter of minutes -- meaning he'll have no time to plan an apology. He hopes it'll be good enough. 

If it isn't, Dick doesn't know what he'll do.

\--

The day has taken its toll on Kory. She doesn’t feel well, and she isn’t too proud to admit it. All she wants to do is go to bed. Perhaps to cry for a second time that day, then sit with her friends over a terrible romantic comedy. Cassie has a talent for picking them out -- Kory will have to ask her advice, if she does end up following this plan for tonight. 

But as much as she wants to, she has more pressing matters. And she is so angry, so hurt, that the instant she enters her room, she pulls out a suitcase and throws it, almost violently, onto the bed.

She is just as vindictive as she tosses in her favorite things. She will be bringing anything that she will not be able to replace when she is in space. 

Clothing can be replaced -- so she does not reach for any of it. Not even her favorite Earth garments. They will be out of place on Tamaran anyways. Her decorations would be out of place there, too, so she does not grab her string lights or vases or ceramic cats. Her plants must stay, too; they cannot survive on Tamaran, as they are adapted to life on Earth and an atmosphere richer in oxygen. 

But for all that she leaves behind, she does grab every picture frame she has around her room. 

They clink against each other as she throws them into her suitcase, glass and metal frames chipping at each other. She is too angry to care about the damage. As long as the pictures themselves are safe, she does not care about the frames. 

She is halfway to pulling down the poster of the early Teen Titans when she hears a knock on the door. 

“I will be quiet when I am gone, Donna,” she snaps, without looking at the intruder. “And I will rest when I am finished. But I have to pack before I lose the nerve.” 

Donna says nothing. 

Kory tears the poster, a corner ripping and staying attached to the wall. Kory sighs through her nose, anger seeping out despite her best efforts. “X’Hal,” she mutters, before going on her toes to rip the last piece off. Normally she would fly, but she doesn’t have the energy and she isn’t going to risk another blackout. 

When she finally gets the piece free, she puts it back against the poster, the tape holding them together for now. With it fixed, her anger starts to dissipate, and the hurt creeps back in.

“...I’m sorry for leaving like this,” she finally says, her back to the door. She can’t even look at Donna right now. Can’t look at how betrayed her friend must be feeling. “But I can’t. I know I said I could raise her here. And I want to. The idea of staying with all of you... there is nothing I want more. But this amount of stress…” 

She places a hand on her belly. 

“It’s probably as bad for my child as it is for me,” she says. “For what it’s worth, I wanted to stay. Please remember that.” 

There are soft footsteps behind her, and Kory tenses. She has never liked it when people walk up behind her.

“At least _I’m_ using this time to say goodbye,” Kory says tersely. Her anger flares again, and she turns. “The least you could do is-” 

It’s Dick. 

Kory freezes, her entire body lurching. She takes an instinctive step backwards, hip bumping against her nightstand. 

She puts a hand against her chest, breath taking a moment to return to her. Surprise, not fear. And yet she is afraid of her own anger. Afraid of her own hurt, and what she might do with it. “Dick.” 

“You’re…" He seems to have trouble finding his voice. "...You're really going to Tamaran?” 

“Yes,” Kory says, stubbornly. She swallows. “I’m not going to stay on a planet where my child’s father does not want her.” 

As silent and vacant as Dick has been for the last year, the pain in his eyes is real. Kory thinks of that night six months ago. How he’d looked the same. Pained, and lost, and scared. She can’t give into those eyes again. 

Maybe she should have kept to calling after all. It would be easier to say goodbye over the phone than try to do it in person, where she can see how much it hurts him. 

“It’s a girl?” Dick asks, voice hoarse. 

Kory’s hands are still fixed on the poster. It shields much of her body from him, and she is selfishly glad for it. A part of her -- the part that is tired of waiting -- doesn’t want him to catch even a glimpse of their daughter inside of her. 

“She is.” 

Dick’s face goes bittersweet and overjoyed. “She’s a girl,” he says. He sounds like he’s been crying, she realizes. That makes two of them. Dick swallows audibly. “That’s great.” 

“Why did you come?” 

Dick takes a step forward, and Kory doesn’t step away. He gently, carefully reaches for the poster in her hands. Kory’s fingers tighten on it for just a moment. But just as quickly, she relents. She pushes it towards him. Dick gently rolls it up for her, then sets it on top of her half-full suitcase. 

“I came for you,” he finally says. “I should have been here ages ago. I’m sorry for waiting.” 

Kory closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath, counts to ten in her head. “Dick,” she finally says. “Why did you come?” 

When she opens her eyes, she expects Dick to be staring at her belly, to get one glimpse at their child. One look before she leaves forever.

But instead, his eyes are fixed on her face. She wonders if he realizes how much she is hurting, just by looking at her face. 

She hopes, selfishly, that he knows. 

“I’m here because I love you,” he says. And it’s so simple, when he says it like that. As though they’ve never had a problem together. As though love is all that matters, even when she has a child on the way and he has not been himself for months. 

Kory hates how much sense it makes, that love could fix even this. 

“I should be in Tamaran next month,” she says, instead of the three words she wants nothing more than to say back. She puts a hand on her belly. “I have to, or else I will risk giving birth here. Or worse, en-route to Tamaran, and then she will be a citizen of neither planet.” 

Dick frowns. She knows that look. Knows that he is puzzling through something. “What I said earlier. Before you gave the phone to Donna. That wasn’t what I meant. I need you to know -- I'm glad I know. I'm glad you told me at all. My question was something different,” he says. “So let me ask again. If you want to be in Tamaran for the birth, why did you wait til now to tell me? Why did you wait until now to _leave_ , when you risk giving birth on the ship?” 

Kory swallows. “My brother did not write me back until a few weeks ago.” 

“Hm.” Dick furrows his brows. “Did you know about the Tamaran citizenship before then?” 

“...Yes."

“Then why,” Dick asks, patiently. Gently. As though he hadn’t just undressed all of her excuses in a single sentence. “Why did you wait?” 

And isn’t this how things always work between them? Doesn't he always get to the root of the problem, and take away every confounding variable? Kory never feels as exposed as when she is with him. 

Kory cannot even look at him. “Our team is my family,” she says to the ground. “I wanted all the time I could have with them. In case I…” 

In case she didn’t come back. In case this was the end of her time on Earth. In case something happened in space, or the birth went wrong. In case her daughter wanted to be a Tamaranean princess after all. 

Dick steps closer. He offers her his hand. 

Kory stares at it for a long moment. Then, gently, she slips her hand into his without looking at him. 

“Kory,” he says softly. “...I’ll come with you to Tamaran for the birth if that’s what you really want.” 

And there it is. Without even asking, he knows what she’s hoping for. 

Tears fill her eyes for the second time that day. Dick doesn’t hesitate. He pulls her into his arms, and she leans in like always. No matter how much taller she is, she will always fit best in the space between his chest and arms. 

Dick gently rubs at her back. 

He holds her for a while, until she’s cried herself out. She doesn’t want to think about how puffy her eyes are, or how much she aches for him to hold onto her forever. 

Koriand’r of Tamaran is one of the most powerful beings on this planet. So how does she feel weak as putty the instant Dick Grayson steps into the room? She wants to resent him for it. But instead, all she feels is grateful he is finally here. 

It is Kory who finally pulls away. It helps his case, she thinks, that he was not the one to let go this time. 

Their eyes meet, and already, Kory wants to go back into his arms. She looks away, then moves to sit on the edge of the bed. She doesn’t have to motion next to her for Dick to take his spot next to her. 

“I love you,” he says, once he is at her side. “I need you to know that. Whatever you choose, wherever you go.” 

“I know.” She swallows. Her voice is almost as hoarse as his -- and when she glances up at him again, she realizes that his eyes are wet, too. “I love you. I always have.” 

There is something raw and tender there -- the way his eyes crinkle and his brow pinches. Though she tells him often enough, she knows that today, those words hold more weight than before. “...I just want you to be happy, Kory,” he finally says. “So I need you to be honest with me. Do you want to go to Tamaran?” 

Kory swallows. “I should.” 

“It isn’t about what you should want," Dick insists. "It isn't just your daughter you have to think about. Will going back to Tamaran make _you_ happy?” 

And Kory knows that the answer is no. She has always known -- that is why she has put off packing for so long. She doesn't want to go, because she cannot imagine ever being happy there. Even if she already adores her daughter with everything she has, Kory will never be happy on Tamaran with just her. Not if it means leaving Earth and all its inhabitants behind. 

She will be miserable if she leaves. 

“It doesn't matter," she says. "My happiness isn’t the only thing I have to think about.” 

Dick reaches for her hand. “You still haven’t said what you feel,” he says carefully. “You were always honest about your feelings before. Please -- be honest now.” 

Kory’s hand trembles in his. She looks away from that pleading gaze, and her eyes land on her suitcase. Inside, she can see a dozen cracked picture frames. Her eyes linger on one of her and Victor -- then one of her with Donna and Rachel.

Her breath catches in her throat. There’s no denying what she feels. There never was. 

“I don’t want to leave,” she finally says. “But I still should.” 

“If you leave, your daughter will be grow up with a mother who is miserable.” Dick gives her hand a soft squeeze. “There may be a lot of opportunities on Tamaran -- but will she be happy, growing up with a mother who had to give up everything?” 

“She’ll know she’s loved enough that I would.” 

“Of course she would,” Dick says, “But that's not the only way to show a child you love them. You could stay, and she could be loved by everyone who loves you, and she'd know you loved her enough to give her a life on Earth.” 

Kory swallows hard. It sounds too good to be true. 

“You have a son here,” she says. “You said that you would come with me to Tamaran if that is what you wanted. That cannot be true, if you have a son here on Earth.” 

“Who says I can’t bring him to Tamaran?” Dick forces a smile. “But staying here and staying on Tamaran aren’t the only options here, Kor.” He pauses, considering his words carefully. “Have you considered just having her there, and coming back home?” 

“It’s not that simple.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because… what if I am asked to stay?” 

“Can’t you say no?” 

Kory swallows. “My people see me as a hero. I am a public figure. They will see it as a betrayal. My people… they suffered so much. I had my own share of struggles, but my people were not well under the Citadel or my sister. They are safe now, and they know I fought for their safety, but-” 

“Your brother is on the throne, and they know you are a hero.” Dick gently rubs at her arm. “Kory. If your people admire you as much as you say they do, then they can’t begrudge you this.” 

“I am supposed to be a princess above all else,” Kory says. “This was supposed to be my destiny, Dick. To lead, and to pave a way for a future leader. My child would fulfill all of it. If I do not return, even to have my child on Tamaran…” 

She trails off, burying her face in her hands.

Dick is quiet too, moving his hand to gently curl into her hair. She leans in without meaning to. But Dick has always done his best thinking with his hands busy, and after a few minutes, he finally speaks up. “...Do you really think your daughter wants that kind of pressure?” 

Kory finally looks up from her hands. She stares at him. 

“I was happy enough until I was traded to the Citadel," she says firmly. "It isn't as heavy a burden as you think. And she would be provided for, with every need met, and the best Tamaranean education possible. Is it right to deny her such an option?” 

“Is it right to deny her a mother that is happy?" Dick counters. "Is it right that you should sacrifice everything you’ve built?” Kory keeps her mouth firmly shut. She starts to look away, but Dick gently tilts her chin so she has to keep his gaze. "Listen, please." 

Kory sighs through her nose.

But finally, she looks into those blue eyes that she would do anything for.

His eyes crinkle a little. It's not a smile -- not quite. But he's still glad to have her attention. "Thank you," he says softly. “Kory. This last year for me has been one of the worst years of my life. Worse than the year Blockbuster destroyed everything I'd built in Bludhaven. Worse than the year that Jason first died. And not just because Bruce was dead -- but because of everything I had to give up to replace him." He swallows. "You don’t approve of what I did last year in Gotham. No one does, because it was mental. I had to give up everything in order to be Batman. My friends. My relationships. It was unhealthy, and it would have destroyed me if I hadn't had Alfred and Damian. Even then, it came close." He pauses. "Now think about what you’d have to do to go back to Tamaran and stay. Would it be any different?” 

“Dick…” 

“And before you tell me the situations aren’t the same -- _how_ are they different?” Dick presses. “You saw how much it killed me to be away from my friends and family. I’ve already lived out that isolation, and I can tell you, it hurts. It festers and eats you from the inside out. I’m _still_ having to relearn how to be a better version of me.” He swallows. “...I don’t want that for you. I’ll respect your decision if you make it. But it’s going to hurt you, and I don’t want you to go through that. Not if I can talk you out of it.”

And with that, all of Kory’s resolve crumbles. 

She pulls out a single picture frame from her suitcase. Her favorite picture -- one of her entire team, out of costume. 

Then, she sets it back on her nightstand, where it will always belong. 

“I've finally told you what I want. Now tell me what you want,” Dick says quietly. “Whatever it is, we’ll do it.” 

Kory’s shoulders slump. She leans against him, into his warmth. “I want to stay here,” she says. “And I want you here with me. That’s what I’ve always wanted, Dick.” 

He leans over and presses his lips to her forehead. Kory closes her eyes, and her heart feels more at peace than it has in months. “Then that’s what we’ll do,” he says. “I’ll have Bruce fly my stuff to me. I won’t even go back to pick it up myself.” 

Kory swallows. She pulls back to look at him, green eyes bright and vivid and, against her better judgment, trusting. “You promise?”

“Unless someone is on the verge of death and I am the only one who can save them, I will be here.” He gently cups her cheek. “Even then I’ll see what I can do from here.” 

It’s all Kory needs to hear. She lets out a breath, too relieved for words. So she does the next best thing. 

She kisses him, and everything feels right. 

\--

It’s been a tough day for Kory. After everything has been sorted with Dick, she feels wrung out. Between the stress of her relationship and the mission earlier, she desperately needs to recharge. 

So Dick gets her to bed. He tucks her in, careful as glass, and watches until her breathing evens out. 

Once he’s sure she’s asleep, he stands and heads to the door. He closes it carefully behind him, then heads to the kitchen. She’ll want something to eat when she wakes. He knows she must be tired after today, and it’s not just sleep that will cure her. 

But just as he’s putting the finishing touches on a sandwich she always used to like, he hears a voice. 

“She likes it with garlic, now.” 

Dick looks up to see Vic leaning against the kitchen island. Then he opens the top of the sandwich again. “Powdered, clove, a spread…?” 

“There’s a spread in the fridge,” Vic says. Flatly. Dick rummages around for it, but he knows what’s coming. He knows what this is really about. And his hands are just barely clasped around the garlic spread when he hears it. “You didn’t call her.” 

“I'm here, aren't I?” Dick says. "Obviously I did."

“But not when you promised.” Vic keeps his arms crossed. “Why?” 

“I already sorted it out with Kory. If she can forgive me, you can, too.” 

Vic’s face is hard, though. Dick sees his jaws flex. “I don’t think it’s that cut and dry. We were there for her, man. Why weren’t you?” 

“She’s always been independent. She didn’t tell me she was pregnant til today -- and I know you know that, because you kept Wally from explaining to me.” His voice goes tart. “Thanks for that, by the way.” 

“You’re welcome.” Victor gives him a long look. “Is she staying, then?” 

“As far as I know.” Dick finishes spreading the garlic sauce on her sandwich, then carefully puts it all back together. If Victor is going to give him a hard time though, Dick can play that exact same game. “What was she doing in the field today?” 

“Leading her team, because this is _her_ body she’s making choices about.” Victor meets his gaze, and Dick has a feeling he won’t be the one to blink first. “She’s not stupid or reckless. As far as I know, this is the first time she’s had an issue in the field.” 

“Where was her backup, then?” 

“Dick,” Victor snaps. “She’s a damn good leader. She’d tell you if you asked. You don’t have to hound me about this. If you’ve got a JL question, you can take it up with me, but Kory is the leader of the Teen Titans, so if you have questions about her leadership, ask her yourself.” 

Dick takes a slow, deep breath. 

Then his shoulders loose their tension, and he takes a step back. “I’m sorry,” he finally says. “I’m trying to do better. I’m just worried.” 

Vic’s face softens, and he takes a few steps forward. Then, he lightly punches Dick’s shoulder. “All the sodas in there are for her,” he says, and it’s as good as an ‘I forgive you.’ “She’s gotten into fruity foreign drinks.” 

“Thanks.” 

With that, Vic nods. He looks about ready to leave the kitchen, but he hesitates before he can. “...You are staying with her, right? Not just here for the weekend?” 

Dick nods. “I’m here as long as she’ll have me.” 

Vic finally relaxes. He even smiles, just a little. “Then I guess we’ll have a full house for a while. Hang in there, man. You’ve got a lot to catch up on.” He pauses before actually leaving, then adds, a little quieter, “We did miss you, you know. It’s been a while since we were all together.” 

“Yeah. I don’t think it’ll be this long again.” Not with Kory pulling him, fully, back into his circle of friends. The thought makes him smile. Gotham might have Bruce and Damian and Alfred, and half a dozen other allies he considers family. But the Titans are his family, too. “Thanks for not kicking me out the second you saw me come in.” 

Victor grins -- a little bit too toothy. “Oh, trust me. If you were planning on bailing on her, you would’ve been kicked out before dinner. But I’m glad you didn’t.” 

With that, Victor finally makes his exit. Leaving Dick alone with Kory’s sandwich, and the soda he’d pulled out for her. 

He picks them up and starts for Kory’s room -- only to bump into Donna. 

She gives him a long look. 

Then, she seems to let it go. Seems being the key word -- Dick knows Donna. Grievances are stored in her mind like a steel trap until she truly forgives. “How is she?” 

At least Dick has always been honest with her before. He won’t stop now. “She’s been better,” he admits. “But she’s doing okay now. She’s asleep, or else I don’t think she would have let me leave her room.” 

“Wonder why,” Donna says, a little flatly. 

“Believe it or not, you’re not the first one to start in on the shovel talk.” 

At least Donna has the sense to look embarrassed. “Fine. Just don’t break her heart, and we’ll call it even.” She pauses. “But it’s good to have you back. And it’s good to see Gotham hasn’t changed you too much.” 

With that, she pats him on the chest, and goes on with her day. 

There will be other conversations like this, Dick knows. Rachel and Garfield, and all of the newer Teen Titans. The ones that don’t have nearly as much context for his relationship, but know that Kory was hurting for the last few months. He’s not exactly looking forward to them. But he’ll deal with them. He’s dealt with far worse scandals involving Kory than this one, and at least this time, he knows it’s worth it. 

Anything, if it means he’ll be there to raise his daughter. 

\--

It takes two months for the Teen Titans to finally orchestrate a baby shower. 

They had tried for the last seven weeks, decorations hastily put up and food prepared like clockwork. But without fail, the moment they had started to gather, disaster struck. 

Dick wonders if the villains know, somehow. They do this over the holidays, too -- even birthdays. As far as he knows, there have only been a handful of celebrations that weren’t interrupted by red alerts. 

But this time, after eight weeks of trying, after the cheap, store-bought cupcakes have gone stale and needed to be replaced twice over, it finally happens. 

Kory returns from her greenhouse, her overalls tight against her bump, even after letting them out. She is slower on the walk back to the Tower, the natural consequence of being eight months pregnant. But she perseveres, looking forward to a shower and perhaps a snack. 

But the moment she opens the door, she is greeted to a flash of light, and banners hung all over the Titans recreational room. 

Not only is there a massive banner with _‘It’s a Girl!’_ written over it, there is even a translation into Tamaranean. 

Kory can’t help but smile. They used the wrong article, and there is a symbol that is backwards. But the love and care that her team, her friends, her family, put into making this celebration… It is enough to overwhelm her. 

She leans against the wall to steady herself, her center of gravity still skewed too far forward.

Dick appears behind her, as always the pinnacle of shadowy grace. “Careful,” he says, a hand at her waist to steady her. He guides her down into a rolling chair, ready and waiting for this very reason. Dick knows her too well. “Wouldn’t want to slip and fall.” 

As Kory sits, she tugs Dick by his shirt collar for a kiss. His thoughtfulness isn’t unnoticed, even for small things like this. 

“I'm not worried,” Kory says, voice low enough for only him to hear. “I have you to catch me, don’t I?” 

Dick rolls his eyes good-naturedly, but gives her a kiss in return. Once she’s settled, he rests his hands on her shoulders. “Always.” Then, to the rest of their friends, “Let’s do this quickly. I’d rather not risk a last minute alarm.” 

At least three Teen Titans slap their hands to their foreheads. 

“Doesn’t he know that’ll jinx it?” Bart stage whispers. Cassie pats his hand consolingly. 

But for once, the rest of the afternoon goes perfectly. 

Kory gets an assortment of gifts for their coming child, and there are two cakes -- one specifically for her, due to her unique tastes, and one for the rest of the team. But more than the cake and gifts, Kory is just grateful to have her family by her side. 

For all that her daughter should become the new heir of Tamaran, Kory knows this is better.

Her daughter will grow up loved. There will be no shortage of aunts and uncles to look after her. She will never have to wonder about her father, or about the pictures on Kory's walls. She will know all of her family -- and she will know that Kory loved her enough to have her on Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/13 edit: fixed some grammar but overall is the same. xx hope yall enjoyed!


End file.
